Chimp Learns How To Ride A Segway Has Nothing To Do With Segway Use By Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department

You Tube video via Presurfer

Chimp on a Segway is just a funny and interesting video and has nothing to do with Roosevelt Island Public Safety Segway comments from this recent post.

Pro Segway:

Segways are tools that have their place in Law Enforcement; just like Bicycles and Motor Vehicles. From what I can see, the Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department has all three. Residents should quit complaining so much and be happy you live in a safe neighborhood. If you don't really like it here, move somewhere else!

Not so much:

... Tell me one or two reasons why a Segway has a place in law enforcement in general and here on Roosevelt Island in specific? With or w/o Segways RI would still be a safe place. I just see it a $10k (at least) waste of money.

How many Segways does the entire NYPD have? 3? Maybe 5? And we have 2. Ridiculous.

Roosevelt Island Segway Officers Chase Down and Apprehend Suspects in Subway Robbery

Roosevelt Island Public Safety Director Keith Guerra reports that Roosevelt Island Segway officers chased down and captured two suspects in yesterday's subway robbery:

I just wanted to update you on the Robbery call we had yesterday. A Public Safety Officer was notified by two good Samaritans of a female robbed in the Roosevelt Island Subway Station. The PSD officer immediately conveyed the information received to all PSD officers on duty. A search was conducted and the subjects were spotted running from the station. Officers pursued both male subjects on foot and via the Segway, and they were apprehended by PSD officers with no further incident. Both subjects were turned over to NYPD Transit officers who processed the individuals for arrest.

No, this is not a picture of Roosevelt Island Public Safety officers apprehending suspected subway robbers on their Segways.

Image of Chinese Anti-Terror Police on Segway from Wired

But this is Roosevelt Island Segway officer on patrol
.

Image from RIOC

Good job by the Public Safety Department and officers involved!

No Heavily Armed Segway Cops Needed For May 2008 Roosevelt Island Public Safety Incidents

Image of Chinese Anti-Terror Police on Segway from Wired

Stop holding your breath and don't worry. These are not the Roosevelt Island Public Safety officers coming after you for holding an open container that may contain alcohol at your next picnic. They are the Chinese Anti-Terror police preparing for next month's Beijing Olympics, if that makes you feel any better.

Back to Roosevelt Island. Below is is a breakdown of Roosevelt Island Public Safety statistics for May 2008 categorized by Calls for Service, Index of Crimes, Misdemeanors and Non- Crime Violations. As in previous months, the largest number of Public Safety responses (67) were for coming to the aid of injured or sick persons. There was also one assault (off Island) one robbery and one burglary on Island.

maypublicsafety - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: maypublicsafety

Here is the updated daily Roosevelt Island Public Safety reports for May 1 - July 6 2008. Note that there has been great progress the last few months in keeping the Motorgate Garage safe from vandalism. Since early April, there has been only one incident that I am aware of - on June 30. According to Public Safety report for that date:

vandalizedvehicle- psd officer observed vehicle in motorgate damaged level 5d.

But beware, if you do have an open container of alcohol, Roosevelt Island Public Safety Officers on Segways like this one may find you.

Image from RIOC

This is one of Roosevelt Island's Segway Cops who made an arrest using the Segway. (Not the Gentlemen in the photo though)

Roosevelt Island Easy Riders - Segways for Public Safety Officers

Image from RIOC

RIOC has purchased two Segway Personal Transporters for officers of the Public Safety Department. According to Roosevelt Island Public Safety Director Keith Guerra, the Segways are useful because:

... Besides allowing officers to move expeditiously in the street, they were also able to navigate on sidewalks and even through the halls of the residential buildings here on Roosevelt island.

During a test drive through the halls of Eastwood, an officer riding a Segway made an arrest for criminal trespass.

In 2007 the New York Police Department purchased 10 Segways. From the NY Times:

...the two-wheeled Segways are to be deployed today as patrol vehicles on pathways and boardwalks in parks, at beaches and at stadiums, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said at a news conference yesterday.
... “Their obvious advantages are visibility and mobility,” Mr. Kelly said. He was referring to the battery-charged agility of a Segway, which can roll up to 12.5 miles per hour, and to the imposing stature the devices tend to give officers, who are eight inches off the ground and ride standing up.
... Such use of Segways by anyone else would be against the law. Despite several recent attempts in Albany to define a Segway as a vehicle that can be legally registered and insured, the rules of the State Department of Motor Vehicles do not even acknowledge the existence of a battery-operated, stand-up scooter capable of carrying one rider. Should it be allowed on the sidewalks? The streets? Legislators disagree.

It would be interesting to know how NYPD evaluates the Segway.

Here's a You Tube video of the Segway Police.


Segways have been on Roosevelt Island before. Remember the Segway Polo match.

Also, though they never made it to Roosevelt Island, two friends decided to make a movie and travel across America from Seattle to Boston in a 21st century Segway version of Easy Rider:

10 MPH is a comical documentary that follows a pair of aspiring filmmakers as they quit their jobs and turn a friend's ludicrous idea into a movie. The impulsive purchase of a two-wheeled Segway scooter sets this story in motion when the two friends decide to travel from Seattle to Boston at 10 mph in an attempt to change their lives forever... What ensues is a road trip like none other with a haphazard cast of characters you could only find on a zany 100-day trek through America's back roads. Each poignant story the two friends discover along the way inspires a craving inside to go out and do that thing you're supposed to do.

You can watch 10 MPH on You Tube or go view the film and register for a free account with Our Stage who will then donate $1 to the filmmakers to help them finance their next movie.

Here's the opening scene from Easy Rider with Born to be Wild soundtrack via You Tube.

Segway Polo on Roosevelt Island

Segway Polo on Roosevelt Island from 2005.

The island looks as though it were made for Segways. It's easy to see that the few cars that are even there are not suited for the place... the streets are populated with pedestrians, roller-bladers and bicyclists (and this day, Segways). Two miles long and less than half a mile wide, yet scattered with apartment buildings, shops, and sports complexes, it is truly a microcosm of its big brother, New York City...

Being so small, the entire place is easily traversed by Segway, but moreover, everyone there loved it. Not only did we not get a single complaint/remark, but just about everyone embraced it. THIS, is a perfect place to prove the Segway as something that's practical. If even a small owner population were established on the island, the NY Seg Group is confident that the Seg would catch on to other residents rapidly. Wouldn't it be great to have such an example for Segway use/acceptance? Whenever someone were to comment that Segways aren't useful, we could simply say: "Look at Roosevelt Island!"

Whatever happened to the Segway? It was suppossed to revolutionize transportation.

Image is from Segway Chat.