Police Adds Scooters to Patrol Fleet

Acting Police Chief Allan Roscoe, left, and Interim Chief Information Officer Tom Costello look over one of the new electric scooters being driven by Officer Leo Touissant.

The University Police Department has purchased a pair of electrically operated scooters for use by patrol officers as part of its continuing effort to expand its community policing procedure.

The three-wheel vehicles are equipped with lights and sirens, are capable of speeds up to 18 miles an hour, and can operate both day and night.

“The scooters are more mobile than cruisers and, in many cases, give us a faster response time,” says Acting Police Chief Allan Roscoe. “They also give the officers greater visibility. We want our officers to be more visible and more mobile.”

Scooters like these already are in service on other college campuses and in some municipal police departments. The Lowell Police Department began evaluating them recently.

One of the new vehicles will operate on UML North and the other on UML South. They are capable of running all day on a three-hour charge. Extra batteries will make it possible to keep them on patrol at all times because when one battery is being charged, the other is ready for use.

Another benefit is the fact that these are “green” vehicles, Roscoe says. They don’t burn gasoline.

“The faculty, staff and students who have seen them in operation all love them,” the chief says, “and the patrol officers are eager to use them. They prefer to be out there where they can communicate more effectively with members of the University community.”

Two of the scooters cost less than half the price of a cruiser, Roscoe says.