Meet The New Neighbors
If you think you’ve heard the rev of a few more Harleys around the Tacoma Dome lately … you’re right.
The Washington Chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club have set up a clubhouse in a nondescript building behind Freighthouse Square. Their new presence has come up in several meetings around town in the last week. The club describes itself as a brotherhood of motorcycle enthusiasts, a charity supporting club of men who love to ride. However, the group is still listed by the U.S. Department of Justice as an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.
Whether group of motorcycle lovers or criminal organization, law enforcement officials say the streets around a clubhouse tend to be some of a city’s quietest. Non-members know not to mess with the club, and the club knows not to draw police attention to its clubhouse. Officers say another group, the Outsiders Motorcycle Club, has been stationed in Hilltop for years and has never given them a problem. (The Outsiders is not included on the DOJ’s list of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.)
So far members of Tacoma’s new clubhouse have been proactive in their interactions with the police department. Tacoma Police Department Det. K. Viehmann said a representative from the club reached out to the TPD to introduce himself and let the department know that the HAMC was moving in on May Day. Viehmann said it has been quiet so far, but the department is on top of it.
Could this development lead to safer streets, or is this a concern? Would this even be an issue if it was another motorcycle club with a lesser known name?
Filed under: General
8 comments
A Altered Chords May 7, 2010
What is it that has gotten them on the u.s. justice dept list?
K kooper May 8, 2010
What’s the address of the building?
A Altered Chords May 8, 2010
I wonder if they have wifi?
X X May 9, 2010
I list the DOJ as an outlaw gang.
With the Hell’s Angels we will have safer streets thanks to them (No,I am not a member nor a motorcycle rider either.)
D dolly varden May 10, 2010
The DOJ is just adding to the Angels’ mystique. I bet they prefer seeing themselves as outlaw motorcycle gangsters rather than middle-aged guys with expensive bikes.
C cy May 13, 2010
Actually not a bad location for them. It creates activity in the area, but is also in an active area with the Dome and Freighthouse…so it adds a dimension to after-hours traffic. This may sound counterintuitive, but just having the clubhouse on the edge of the high-traffic area may be the best from an urban planning standpoint.
A Altered Chords May 14, 2010
I’d say it would be a bigger concern if a gang that was NOT proactive w/ the police moved in there.
J JonnyMo May 15, 2010
Perhaps they are going to film the next season of Sons of Anarchy there. Now THAT’S a motorcycle gang!