Providence Police to ride scooters

siobhan · Post by **siobhan** » Fri May 30, 2008 6:09 pm

"Providence police to test-drive eco-friendly scooters"
http://www.beloblog.com/ProJo_Blogs/new ... he_38.html

I'm so very, very proud of our Providence men and women in blue! You go Mayor Cicilline and Chief Esserman!

Post by **ericalm** » Fri May 30, 2008 7:03 pm

Wow, interesting that they're riding the Vectrix scoots. Those run about $9K for the basic model. The Vectrix MP3 clone, which isn't on their site (?) was supposed to run around $16K!

Wonder what those Vespa/Piaggio hybrids will be going for...

brape · Post by **brape** » Fri May 30, 2008 7:11 pm

Looks like I moved just when providence was getting cool

SScooterG · Post by **SScooterG** » Fri May 30, 2008 8:02 pm

Houston motorcycle-trainee cops learn on scooters. Big manly ones though....but hey! They're still scooters!

MPA · Post by **MPA** » Fri May 30, 2008 8:20 pm

Cool deal. How fast do the electric ones go?

The NYPD has used scooters for as long as I can remember. I was going to post a picture but caught an article from Dec '07 where they were testing the Vectrix scooters. I couldn't find anything where they talked about the results though.

I found another article about Memphis PD taking a look at them as well. Their version, the T3, only does 20mph though

Memphis Cops

BuddyLicious · Post by **BuddyLicious** » Fri May 30, 2008 8:38 pm

siobhan wrote:"Providence police to test-drive eco-friendly scooters"
http://www.beloblog.com/ProJo_Blogs/new ... he_38.html

I'm so very, very proud of our Providence men and women in blue! You go Mayor Cicilline and Chief Esserman!

Yea I can just see it now using an electric scooter,the police are on a wild chase after someone,then 1 by 1 each scooter dies after running out of battery juice.

Leeroy Jenkins · Post by **Leeroy Jenkins** » Fri May 30, 2008 8:42 pm

Nashville's finest roll on scoots.

r0sa · Post by **r0sa** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:22 am

the vectrix a pretty clean looking scoot

Tenchi · Post by **Tenchi** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 5:31 pm

Well, if a policeman on a scooter pulls you over and decides you need arresting, does he say "You're under arrest. Get in the basket?"

Post by **ericalm** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:07 pm

Tenchi wrote:Well, if a policeman on a scooter pulls you over and decides you need arresting, does he say "You're under arrest. Get in the basket?"

He calls the bicycle police and asks them what to do.

brape · Post by **brape** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:46 pm

I know you're joking, but Providence likes to have bike and foot patrols to make them more accessible to the community and try and take some of the negative policeman image away. If they have a real probably they obviously call for backup.

r0sa · Post by **r0sa** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:57 pm

Tenchi wrote:Well, if a policeman on a scooter pulls you over and decides you need arresting, does he say "You're under arrest. Get in the basket?"

speedgraphic · Post by **speedgraphic** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:11 pm

That may be cool, but... nothing strikes fear into a motorists heart QUITE like a Highway Patrol BMW R 1100 RT-P...

ScootLemont · Post by **ScootLemont** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:25 pm

I found this on the 'net & thought I would share

Xena · Post by **Xena** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 8:44 pm

As a scoot rider that lives in Providence, I find this awesome!

I almost wish a whole gaggle of us from the area could go down and meet them on Friday as they get ready to go off on their first test run...sort of to give them the moral support

siobhan · Post by **siobhan** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:25 pm

Xena wrote:As a scoot rider that lives in Providence, I find this awesome!

I almost wish a whole gaggle of us from the area could go down and meet them on Friday as they get ready to go off on their first test run...sort of to give them the moral support

I went by on Friday (it was last Friday) but later in the day after work and there was no sign of them

I think this is a great fit for Providence...Vectrix is a Rhode Island company which is why I think they went with them.

I do like dem Nashville Rattlers...a great look for our Tennessee men & women in blue!

iloveducks11 · Post by **iloveducks11** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:52 pm

The Vectrix are amazing. We have some at the scooter shop I work at (ecomoto.com). These can go 62 mph and about 60 miles between charges. They get up to full speed in virtually no time.

Ronin · Post by **Ronin** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:33 pm

Of course, we all know that any cop on a 2 wheeled machine all inspire to be:

Elm Creek Smith · Post by **Elm Creek Smith** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:55 am

Can you imagine the surprise of a bad guy fleeing on foot or on his bicycle who thinks he's made a clean getaway? He looks over his shoulder in triumph and sees a virtually silent scooter with a big ol' cop grinning at him! Pretty scooterific!

ECS

Post by **ericalm** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:21 am

Bumping, kinda…

Current "Scoot!" magazine has a cool article about the history of scooters used by the NYPD. Uh, police Lambrettas? Awesome!

mayra · Post by **mayra** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:28 am

i wish they'd do that in richmond, maybe then they'd fix all the messed up streets in the city. i'm afraid to go into town sometimes cuz my butt hurts for 3 days afterward

siobhan · Post by **siobhan** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:17 pm

ericalm wrote:Bumping, kinda…

Current "Scoot!" magazine has a cool article about the history of scooters used by the NYPD. Uh, police Lambrettas? Awesome!

Yeah, I saw that. It would be cool to get one after Gene charmed it up, but I wonder if one could ride it legally (with the big POLICE all over it).

My b/f wears a German police leather jacket and the back has POLIZEI in reflective letters. We were in a shop in my neighborhood and one of the guys says, man if I wore that, I'd get pulled over immediately (we're white in a majority non-white 'not the best' neighborhood). I said, yeah, you probably would. That sucks. Ever since that conversation, I wonder if he'll get pulled over for confusing the populus. But then again, while I love some of Providence's Finest (see scavenger hunt), some of them aren't the brightest bulbs.

And I STILL haven't seen one of the Vetrix scoots. Every time I see a cop, I ask, where are they? and even they don't know. I'm going to WaterFire on Saturday so maybe they'll be down there dealing with traffic.

Jrman · Post by **Jrman** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:04 pm

siobhan wrote:eco-friendly scooters

The electric scooters may be eco-friendly. However, how much electricity does it take to charge them? The power plants sure use a lot of oil/coal to generate electricity. I also wonder if you actually save much money if you are paying for the electricity to charge them.

djelliott · Post by **djelliott** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 2:05 pm

ericalm wrote:Bumping, kinda…

Current "Scoot!" magazine has a cool article about the history of scooters used by the NYPD. Uh, police Lambrettas? Awesome!

Police Lambrettas! Man, I'd love to pick one of those up at a county auction. It would be like the scooter equivalent of the blues mobile.

Dustin

Dooglas · Post by **Dooglas** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 3:32 pm

Jrman wrote:
siobhan wrote:eco-friendly scooters
The electric scooters may be eco-friendly. However, how much electricity does it take to charge them? The power plants sure use a lot of oil/coal to generate electricity. I also wonder if you actually save much money if you are paying for the electricity to charge them.

The answer to all that is you come out way ahead in terms of cost and carbon footprint compared to gas engines. It is the same deal as a plug in electric car such as the Volt only it works today because of the size and weight of a scooter. (same reason it is more efficient to have central power plants than small gensets at each house - not to mention that the electricity could come from hydro, wind power, tidal, etc)

The Vectrix site has some info that sheds light on this question. The Vectrix battery pak requires 3.7 kWh to reach full charge. The average price of electricity around the US is 10 cents per kWh so the recharge cost per cycle is about 35 cents. The weak point with all electric vehicles continues to be range. The range of a Vectrix on one charge cycle is 30-60 miles (depending on speed, load, etc). So you are going half or less of the distance a Buddy will do on one tank of gas but at less than 1/10th the fuel cost. (assuming I got these numbers right)

Elm Creek Smith · Post by **Elm Creek Smith** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 4:18 pm

Dooglas wrote: So you are going half or less of the distance a Buddy will do on one tank of gas but at less than 1/10th the fuel cost. (assuming I got these numbers right)

Then you get to wait 4-6 hours before going again while it recharges. Maybe the police will get battery packs in their just like they have for their walkie-talkies. You know, stop by the station, and swap 'em out?

ECS

Post by **ericalm** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 5:00 pm

Dooglas wrote:
Jrman wrote:
siobhan wrote:eco-friendly scooters
The electric scooters may be eco-friendly. However, how much electricity does it take to charge them? The power plants sure use a lot of oil/coal to generate electricity. I also wonder if you actually save much money if you are paying for the electricity to charge them.
The answer to all that is you come out way ahead in terms of cost and carbon footprint compared to gas engines. It is the same deal as a plug in electric car such as the Volt only it works today because of the size and weight of a scooter. (same reason it is more efficient to have central power plants than small gensets at each house - not to mention that the electricity could come from hydro, wind power, tidal, etc)

Sad to say but even when electricity comes from coal-burning plants, electric vehicles still come out way ahead of internal combustion in terms of carbon footprint and cost. Still, I may be remodeling my garage in the next year and am seriously considering a solar array on the flat rear roof specifically for the purpose of an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle that I don't yet own.

BTW, I finally watched "Who Killed the Electric Car" this weekend and though I thought the subject deserved a better movie, it was pretty interesting and actually very sad in parts. One of the big showdowns depicted in the movie took place just a few miles from me and I had no idea it was happening at the time—it was pretty much ignored by local and national media, I think. meh.

k1dude · Post by **k1dude** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 5:02 pm

siobhan wrote:My b/f wears a German police leather jacket and the back has POLIZEI in reflective letters. We were in a shop in my neighborhood and one of the guys says, man if I wore that, I'd get pulled over immediately (we're white in a majority non-white 'not the best' neighborhood). I said, yeah, you probably would. That sucks. Ever since that conversation, I wonder if he'll get pulled over for confusing the populus.

If you don't live in the best part of town, I'd be worried your boyfriend could be confused for a real cop. That can be very dangerous. I'm not sure he should be wearing that jacket even though it sounds really cool. Be careful out there.

Dooglas · Post by **Dooglas** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 5:47 pm

k1dude wrote: If you don't live in the best part of town, I'd be worried your boyfriend could be confused for a real cop. That can be very dangerous. I'm not sure he should be wearing that jacket even though it sounds really cool. Be careful out there.

Are there actually a lot of multi-lingual Europeans in "not the best" part of town that would be confused by this?

brape · Post by **brape** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:09 am

Aparently Johnston is getting in on the act too.

http://community.myfoxprovidence.com/bl ... Story_Time

Modern Buddy

Providence Police to ride scooters

Providence Police to ride scooters

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