May 17, 2007
NYPD Tries Segways Again
Now we know what happened to the NYPD's 2003 pilot program to have some of its officers use Segways: The batteries (which were eventually recalled) would make the entire Segway stop when they were dead, so officers were fall off. Now, the NYPD has decided the newer models are up to snuff and will make like it's 2003 by having 10 Segways patrol various parts of the city starting today.
The NYPD officers aboard Segways will be at Central Park, Prospect Park, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Coney Island, Orchard Beach, the Bronx Zoo, Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium and Arthur Ashe Stadium; Police Commissioner Ray Kelly explained, "We're assigning them to the parks and beaches because they're suitable for the pathways and boardwalks there. You can cover a lot more ground than when you are walking."
Twenty-five cops were trained for Segway patrolling, and the NY Times reports that many officers were interested in volunteering to test out the Segway driver training course. We'd love to know what's on the course - potholes, curb cuts, empty soda cans and strollers?
And you have to wonder, will these cops-on-Segways make it a point to ticket people riding Segways since they are technically illegal in NYC? Watch out, Jonathan Gleich!
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Dumb invention, dumber application.
For the cost of one of those pointless things you can outfit a precinct with Cannondale Mountain bikes that can actually operate outside of sidewalk.
halik - Exactly. They should ride bikes instead. If they mayor is all about sustainability now, why replacing walking or biking with energy-sucking Segways?
I don't think it has to be a choice - bikes are good for speeding around between neighborhoods, but the Segways seem perfect for stop and start missions - say parking ticketing etc - which would kinda suck on a bike.
But yeah, more bikes for cops - particularly in Brooklyn/Queens
Also, why do so many people have a grudge against Segways? Never understood that. Seems more like a grudge against the people who can afford them more than anything else. Personally, I think they're useless for most of us but great for professional uses. Whatever gets cars off the streets.
maybe I'm missing something, but why can't cops just WALK when they are giving tickets? It's not like a segway goes that fast. Have people really become that lazy?
Segways are not energy-sucking devices (that sounds like a statement made out of ignorance or extremism, Mike), but they *are* intensely stupid, and certainly a bad design for police transportation (unless you're talking about meter-maids, for which it actually makes sense). I agreee that the cops should be riding bikes, but bike riding cops would actually have to be physically fit. And of course, riding bikes wouldn't jive with NYPD's generally piss-poor treatment of bicyclists.
If they're using them for meter maids, its not a bad idea, as the Segway would pose a number of advantages for meter maids. Namely not having to get off the bike/out of the golf cart to write tickets, yet being able to move between cars relatively quickly would pose a pretty big advantage. But they said "Patrol" so I assume these are not going to be used for meter-maid duty, and it seems to me like using something that can only move ~12 mph on a sidewalk is a piss poor choice for active policing transportation. If the cop has to chase a perp somewhere the segway can't go the segway will get stolen, or s/he wil lose the perp.
The Chode Patrol is on the move! I feel safer already.
Park is right. The NYPD has become lazy.
I'm starting to see some pretty fat-assed police officers lately. What they need to do is start walking the beat and not gliding along on a stupid segway.
They've been doing this for years in Chicago in the downtown parks, and the cops just look silly.
This looks like some kind of Reno 911 photo shoot.
What happens when a cop on a Segway gets rammed by an SUV running a light? My guess? - something a little more severe than 'no ticket, no summons, no nothing.'
I think the only way they're going to stop crime is if the mugger/robber can't run fast enough because he's laughing so damn hard at the sight of those things.
Segways are a waste of money even for meter fairies; it's not as if the person will ride from a car to car - you still need to get off to reach the windshield and get between the cars etc. So its not like the segway will make you more efficent and at 12mph top speed, you're not making great improvements in general transportation either. Waste of tax money...
Plain stupid idea !
Way back in the mid-90s, a few brave cops in southern cities did their beats on inline skates, notably the old Rollerblade Metroblade, which had a walkable boot plus a skate chassis that buckled over it. A current strap-on skate is the Skorpion and it might be even better since it's not an inline skate, so it should be more stable. And it can strap over any regular shoe or boot, including what NYPD specifies for their uniforms. That'd be the way to go. You never run out of battery power. Not as cumbersome as bikes and a lot more maneuverable. And a lot faster than walking. Of course, seeing how many NYPD cops are shaped like Homer Simpson, the exercise they provide wouldn't be a bad idea, either.
I think people's distaste for Segways is a manifestation of disillusionment at the absurd level of hype that accompanied its introduction, or pre-introduction. In some ways, the Segway is the embodiment of the late-90s, turn-of-the-millenia dotcom boom. Remember all the breathless articles about how some amazing invention nicknamed Ginger was literally going to change the way we lived and built our cities, with people plunking down thousands of dollars for a product sight-unseen because someone told them it was awesome, but refused to actually describe what it was, other than as awesome? And it was a goddamn battery-powered scooter! It was a reality-defining event for a lot of people, who suddenly had to ask themselves "Oh crap, have we been behaving like absolute idiots for the last five-to-ten years?" And then Enron went bust, the stock market imploded, daytrading while driving a cab seemed like not such a great career pursuit, peace in our time was an illusion, and everyone realized that faking it only lasts so long. Damn I miss those days.
DaveH nailed it.
I was daytrading while at my 9 to 5 job and doubling my income. Didn't last long.
OK, So cops used Rollerblades too patrol . Big deal, The difference here is "Rollerblades aren't cumbersome to operate, OR work on . A Segway is just that, A cumbersome mode of travel not meant for the sidewalk . Hell they top out at [10]mph so it's not like you can ride them out in the street along side the auto's . So what's the point in the use use outside of the park ?