CHiPs, Brazil style - São Paulo

Awwww, Ponch and Jon! I miss them! Photo credit imdb.com

So, there are a lot of motorcycle cops in São Paulo. Most all of them, as far as I can tell are Military Police, the guys that case and apprehend the bad guys. Makes sense--makes them much more flexible on getting through traffic and onto sidewalks as necessary. And since the bad guys are often motoboys themselves, you've got to be able to chase them. 

As I was returning from dropping my son at ballet on Sunday (special rehearsal), I happened to be following a pair of motorcycle cops. I hate following them, really. They usually are going pretty slowly and having a chat. Back and forth, back and forth. They weren't really looking at much except each other so I did not think that they were necessarily even on-duty. It was 9 am on Sunday. 

But then they did the traffic light rigamarole. If you've never seen it, it's like motorcycles on ice. They swirl around each other for a moment, then pull up facing each other. And you. Sort of. 

Dudes looked away and I got'em on film.

Apparently when they get stopped at a red light, motocops need to park their motorcycles perpendicular to the following traffic. One then proceeds to evil-eye the cars behind him (woe be to those drivers who have gotten too close) and one looks ahead and to the cross streets. So these guys who had been totally tuned out as they moseyed along two minutes before were now owl-ing the whole street. Very intimidating. I was afraid to take this shot but the rear guard dude looked away for one second and pow! Boys on film!

One day I'll catch a video of the motocop dance. Did Ponch and Jon do this? Never saw it. Hard to imagine, given the size of those Calif Highway Patrol motos...