Remove ImagesCourthouse Security Segways Into 2010
January 28, 2010
The Guilford County Security Department is getting some high-cost high-tech toys that it requested: In about a month, people on county property will begin seeing county security officers whisking around the county grounds on Segways. They are getting the Segways despite the fact that Guilford County is cutting expenses left and right and county commissioners and Guilford County Manager Brenda Jones Fox have pledged to cut spending anywhere they can – and despite the fact that 2009 was a year when a lot of positions were cut because the county couldn't afford to keep paying those salaries.
The devices, which cost about $7,000 each, are self-balancing, one-passenger electric vehicles that use gyroscopic sensors to maintain the machine's balance. The Segway, when unveiled to the world with much fanfare in late 2001, was billed as a vehicle that would revolutionize human transportation. However, the devices ended up being more of a curiosity for fascinated onlookers.
Guilford County Security Director Jeff Fowler requested two Segways for his department and got approval for that request, which will cost the county about $14,000, as well as some additional expenses for training his staff on the use of the vehicles.
Recently, at a Board of Commissioners retreat, Fox said she felt as though she was "constantly saying 'no'" to county department heads. However, in this case, Fox said yes, and soon the Guilford County Security Department, which has 14 officers, will have the same number of Segways as the Greensboro Police Department with over 500 officers.
The Greensboro Police Department, however, didn't buy their two Segways – those vehicles were donated to the department by local developer Roy Carroll.
The written request for the Segways states that the justification for purchasing the Segways is that, in the long run, they'll save the county money by allowing county officers the ability to patrol more area, and therefore, the argument goes, the county will have to contract out less security services. The request states: "It will essentially allow fewer officers to cover the same patrol area and improve response time to incidents."
According to Fowler, the Segways are expected save the county about $28,000 each year by reducing the amount the department has to pay for outsourced security.
Fowler added that response time should be reduced when, for instance, there's an "upset client" causing a problem in a county office.
Of course, the maximum speed of a Segway is 12 miles an hour, while a human can run at about 20 miles per hour. Also, in many cases, getting somewhere on a Segway would be like negotiating an obstacle course – there are curbs and stairways and, while the Segways are said to do well on grass, they do not do well at all on gravel and some other terrains. Given all that, it's highly questionable if response times will actually be lower – though no doubt, the machines could be helpful in, say, a chase where the security officer were able to convince a fleeing man to flee in a straight line on solid terrain and avoid curbs and steps.
When Fowler was asked if using bikes wouldn't be a cheaper and better – though admittedly less glitzy – solution, he said they would not.
"It's a better answer," he said of the Segway. "We can cover more area and there's less physical effort."
Whatever the case, Fowler was evidently able to convince Fox and Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston that his department needed the admittedly high-tech, cool and fun form of transportation.
Fox said the decision was in keeping with the county's efforts to cut costs.
"The Segways will save money," Fox said.
Alston also said he's sold on the idea.
"It's in the interest of efficiency," Alston said. "He [Fowler] thinks it will make them more efficient and I'm not going to second-guess him."
There's only one company that makes Segways (though there is more than one vendor), so essentially, when the county wanted to buy the machines, they had to bypass the normal "lowest responsive bidder" process and pay the company's $7,000 asking price.
Fowler said the type of Segway that Guilford County purchased could be used inside county buildings as well as on county grounds.
According to Fowler, some versions of the Segway have very large wheels and are not designed for indoor use. Some Segway models would, for instance, be a problem in narrow halls and cramped elevators, like the generally very packed elevators in the Guilford County Courthouse in downtown Greensboro.
Fowler also said there wasn't a lot of upkeep expense for the Segways, but he added that the rechargeable batteries, which are said to last about four years, were expensive to replace. He said each battery costs around $1,200.
Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes said he and his officers had mulled over the idea of using Segways, but he said that, since his officers patrol such a spread-out area, his department would have little practical use for Segways.
"There is one situation where we could use them – at the golf tournament," he said.
Barnes' officers provide security each year at the Wyndham Championship Golf Tournament, and he said the Segways have an advantage when it comes to patrolling the golf course during the event.
"They're quiet," he said.
In the past, his officers have used golf carts provided by tournament officials, Barnes said. However, when things get crowded, golf carts at the tournament are in short supply. Still, Barnes said, his department won't be jumping on the Segway/law enforcement bandwagon.
"Since we'd only use them once a year, I could never justify the expense to taxpayers," Barnes said.
Barnes said that perhaps, in the future, his officers would be able to borrow the Segways from the Guilford County Security Department for the August golf tournament.
Capt. Wayne Scott of the Greensboro Police Department said his officers had found the machines useful for a number of situations.
He said the Segways had proven valuable for patrolling downtown Greensboro. He said people are seeing a lot less of them at this time of year because officers get cold riding them. He also said that, except for special events, the use is limited almost exclusively to the central downtown area, and he said that in warm weather the Segways are in use on a daily or nearly daily basis.
The downtown area has a lot of officers patrolling on bicycles as well, and Scott said the Segway provides some advantages over bikes. For one thing, he said, they're good in crowds because the Segway rider is elevated and has an increased range of vision and is more visible to those in the crowd.
He added that there was another important contribution the Segways made to the Police Department.
"The kids love them," he said, adding that children's fascination with the machines establishes positive associations with law enforcement for those kids at an early age.
Scott added that, when the Segways break down or are damaged in an accident, it can be difficult to get them serviced quickly. He said that once, when an axle broke on one of their Segways, the department had to send the vehicle to Charlotte for repairs and it was out of commission for over a month.
Scott said that, though Segways are useful in some cases, police bikes, which cost around $400 each, offer some advantages over Segways. For instance, police patrolling on bikes are trained to go up and down stairs on those bikes – while an officer on a Segway cannot manage stairs.
In addition, he said, during crowd control situations, police officers are trained to use their bikes as barriers to help contain the crowd.
Segways in law enforcement are not just a local phenomenon. They are all the rage in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, which has 36 Segways.