Atlanta Cops Scoot off After Criminals on Segway Scooters

AP ^ | 4-23-02 | Erin McClam

[Pharmboy]

ATLANTA (AP) - Purse-snatchers beware: Atlanta police are riding shiny new $9,000 scooters - and it will take at least a brisk jog to get away from them. The city's finest unveiled a battalion of Segway Human Transporter vehicles Tuesday. The battery-powered, two-wheeled scooters can top out at 15 mph.

Inventor Dean Kamen introduced the gyroscope-stablized scooters last fall after keeping them secret for months under the code names IT and Ginger.

Police in Atlanta - a traffic-snarled city that never met a motor vehicle it didn't like - are borrowing six of the scooters from Kamen's company for a two-month test run.

The department wants to know whether scooter patrols will be more effective than foot or bicycle patrols, and also hopes to use the machines to boost police visibility.

A few officers showed off their new two-wheeled toys in a demonstration for the TV cameras.

"It's much easier to ride this than walk," Officer Jennings Kilgore said.

The scooter detects tiny shifts in body weight, rolling forward or backward depending on which way its user leans. Its gyroscopes make it difficult to fall from or to topple.

The police will use them in patrols at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport and in the downtown business district. The debt-ridden department has not committed itself to buying any of the machines.

"Don't even ask me about the money," Maj. John Woodard said.

Atlanta is the first city to give the scooters a broad tryout, according to Segway officials. Georgia Power Co. and the city planning commission bought two each, and tourism officers who walk around downtown will share six.

How the scooters will hold up on the unforgiving streets of Atlanta, where tooth-jarring potholes sometimes go unfilled for months, remains to be seen. Police were put through an obstacle course as part of their Segway training.

"It just went right through everything," Kilgore said. "It'll go about as fast as the normal person can run. It's a pretty good clip."

The police say they think the Segways would help them catch all but the fastest criminals. A special turbo key can send the Segway zooming off at 15 mph - the normal top speed is 12 - while the fastest humans can top 20 mph, though only for a short distance.

If anything, Woodard said, the Segway scooters are more agile and stable than bikes, if considerably slower in hot pursuit.

"I don't think anything is perfect in those situations," he said. "We won't know till we get involved in some real pursuits."

[Pharmboy]

Wheeeeeeee! (Y'all)

[general_re]

"It's much easier to ride this than walk," Officer Jennings Kilgore said.

I bet. Of course, it'd be easier still to just stay home, wouldn't it?

[billorites]

Can't wait for the Live helicopter shots of "low-speed" chases through the streets of Atlanta.

[mountaineer]

Paramedics were riding these things at last week's Boston Marathon. They were able to carry 70 pounds of equipment with them. It was my first "up close" look at a Segway - I'd love to try riding one.

[Pharmboy]

There was a guy on one at the Auto Show a few weeks ago. It looked very cool.

[Revolting cat!]

Whadya expect? A $5,000 invention that you can only sell to the gubmint! Chief Wiggum on Segway, yeah!

[Fish out of Water]

index bump

[Thinkin' Gal]

"It's much easier to ride this than walk," Officer Jennings Kilgore said...

...as he scooted off to the nearest donut shop.

[operation clinton cleanup]

We need pictures!!

[twntaipan]

But the $64,000 question is: Can you eat Krispy Kreme donuts while you ride them?

[operation clinton cleanup]

Pogo-Cop?

[F16Fighter]

OR we could provide a rickshaw to this guy yoked up to one Atlanta's unemployed...

[Ole Okie]

Can't wait for the Live helicopter shots of "low-speed" chases through the streets of Atlanta.

Everytime a cop/malfeasor chase happens, the local Atlanta TV stations interrupt to follow it from helicopters. It will be entertaining to see the Segways following a white Bronco, all at 12 mph.

[Pharmboy]

LOL!! (Actually, they will now expend fewer calories than when they walked)

[Rule of Law]

It's easier to test gimmicks than to actually fight crime.

I love the way that Atlanta cut its crime statistics. It moved some of its precinct headquarters out of the city. The crime was still in the city, but because the precinct headquarters was outside the city, the statistics didn't count against Atlanta.

[Pharmboy]

Ok--so it's not a cop on the streets of Atlanta; use yourn imagination.

[Myrddin]

We just had an incident in southeastern Idaho where a Krispy Kreme truck left the back doors open. He was dumping boxes of donuts on the road. The cops were called to intercept him. They felt a bit funny about being in pursuit of a donut truck.

[July 4th]

Great. More cops looking like Homer Simpson and Carl Winslow on the street. What happens when the thieves get Segways? Ah...the future.

[henbane]

Atlanta is the first city to give the scooters a broad tryout, according to Segway officials

Hey!

Did Segway forget about this item from last year?

Boston, Manchester police to test Segway scooters

[December 7, 2001] Police departments in Boston and Manchester, N.H., will be the first law enforcement agencies to test the battery-powered, two-wheeled, gyroscope-equipped scooters, called "human transporters," that were unveiled this week by Segway LLC, the closely held manufacturer based in Manchester.

[Black Agnes]

wheee indeedy. Now the criminals just have to run up a small flight of stairs (3 or 4 should do it) and voila! cops can't go up stairs w/o abandoning expensive city property! and crooks get away!

[r9etb]

Paramedics were riding these things at last week's Boston Marathon. They were able to carry 70 pounds of equipment with them.

Betcha they didn't go the whole 26 miles, 285 yards.

[Pharmboy]

What would really make it look way cool would be a shotgun holster attachment on the post...or maybe twin 50 .cal machine guns on the handles.

[Pharmboy]

Good pickup...(leave it to our Freepers to keep everyone honest).

[fogarty]

"It's much easier to ride this than walk," Officer Jennings Kilgore said.

If these lardbutt cops would establish a regular exercise routine, then they could also chase any street thug with ease. It's amazing what 3-4 miles of running, four times a week will do for you.

So because these lazy-arse cops can't exercise, the Atlanta taxpayers are gonna fork over $9k a pop to keep its streets safe. What a joke.

[SR71A]

Oh yeah...$9,000 gizmos versus $250 bicycles. God forbid that a LEO should apply a little muscle power to catch someone. Where does the bubble light and shotgun rack go?
But I still have a soft spot for mounted police. Nobody can outrun a horse.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I love the Segway. There are so many uses for them. I would love one to get me through those huge airport terminals.

[afraidfortherepublic]

There was one demonstrated at National Manufacturing Week in Chicago in March. But, boo hoo, I was busy running my booth and I didn't get to see it. Everyone who did, said it was neat, however.

[GnL]

Why should the facts get in the way of a good story?

[Pharmboy]

Yeah...that's the ticket...we'll rename it...

[Rule of Law]

Yeah...that's the ticket...we'll rename it...

We wouldn't want to do anything to actually stop crime, would we? The Chief of Police wouldn't get her cut.

[Texaggie79]

Once, I was a cop in Atlanta, and I got on this scooter and I went WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Texaggie79]

WEEEEEEEE