Prince William police officer Justin Bonner won a gold medal this week at the 2015 World Police and Fire Games.
The 28-year old officer joined Prince William police in 2006, and became an officer in 2008. He has been with the motor unit for two years.
Bonner won in the novice cone courses for precision and time, and his gold medal for Overall Novice.
According to Bonner, his interest riding on the police motorcycles came when he was still a cadet.
“As a cadet, I got the opportunity to work with our traffic unit and I found it was something I really enjoyed doing. I like to try and promote traffic safety, and you get to do some honorable events – escorts for VIPs, funerals and different things like that,” said Bonner.
All officers in the motor unit have the option to compete in yearly motorcycle skills competitions. This year, the competition was combined with the World Police and Fire Games.
Bonner said that in order to prepare for competitions, there is a lot of training work that goes in.
“We do a two week basic motor school to qualify to ride the motorcycle at work – and we also do training once a month to practice our skills and maintain proficiency on the motorcycle. Besides that, we are allowed to go up to the track at our police academy and practice occasionally,” said Bonner.
In the World Police and Fire Games there are several motorcycle competitions including, precision, speed, slow ride, partner ride, team slow ride and challenge ride competitions.
“I felt good going in – we had some great instructors here in Prince William that helped us out a bunch – training for this and day to day operations. I’m very honored to represent the department and to end up winning – it was great training. That’s really why we do it. You end up rooting for all of the competitors who are out there, and you learn a lot from just being out there,” Bonner commented.
Bonner stated that he will continue to compete in the years ahead.
