Cops Beef-Up for Hells Angels

By GIL BRADY
Staff ink-stained wretch
Filed at 2:24 pm

JACKSON, Wyo. (CT) – As Hells Angels motor through Jackson on the way to Cody for their World Run rally, Jackson police say they’re armed and ready for any run-ins with the world famous renegades.

“We’ll have a second car with a long gun at the low ready,” Det.-Sgt. Todd Smith of The Jackson Police Department said Thursday when asked about reports of local law enforcement appearing to be more heavily armed than usual.

Smith made clear that the beefed-up security was not aimed at all bikers, only those clearly wearing clothing and insignias identifying them as Hells Angels members.

In Cody, the Casper Star-Tribune reported, as many as 3,000 bikers are expected to descend on the city. According to the Associated Press, the national Hells Angels rally has been at the heart of public controversey. “We’ll be glad when they’re gone,” Cody City Administrator Laurie Kadrich reportedly told the AP.

Cody hosted the Hells Angels twenty years ago with locals recalling few problems.

Smith said patrol squads would be toting rifles because Hells Angels members are notorious for assaulting police officers and have a propensity for violence. "We’ll do whatever we have to make sure [our officers] get home safe at night," he added.

California Hells Angels member George Christie recently told the AP that he belongs to a motorcycle club, not a criminal organization. “We’ve never been proven to be a criminal gang,” he said, adding that Hells Angels members are a brotherhood that values respect.

Cody, Wyo., is hosting the “World Run” rally from Wednesday through Sunday.

(Photo credit: coutsey of max.msn)