Stardate 20020423.1734

(On Screen): The Atlanta Police Department is borrowing six Segway scooters for a two-month tryout, to see if they are superior to bicycles or foot patrols. They'll be used in downtown Atlanta and in the airport. When pursuing someone who is on foot, the Segway is apparently capable of a speed approaching a fast trot – until, that is, it encounters trash on the ground, or a curb, or grass, or stairs, or a pothole in the pavement, or people in the way, or an escalator.

You know, when I was a kid I remember seeing Dick Tracy and Sam flying around in those individual anti-grav units, and they looked pretty cool. (I always wanted one.) But I think that a cop riding on a Segway would probably reduce the bystanders to hysterical laughter, especially after they find somewhere to mount the flashing blue light.

Do we have the makings of a TV police drama here? Or maybe a sitcom? Somehow seeing cops riding on these babies just doesn't demonstrate the kind of panache that Crockett and Tubbs had in that Ferrari Testarossa.