CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Walkers along the Mouse Creek greenway may pass a police officer on a Segway early next year.
Two Segways, the personal transporter vehicles, are on a list of requests for which the Cleveland Police Department is seeking a federal grant.
As the Cleveland/Bradley Greenway -- the official name -- continues to expand, police have been patrolling the walk in a vehicle similar to a golf cart, paying special attention to more secluded and inaccessible areas. Officers say they have responded to several medical calls along the walk.
According to Police Chief Wes Snyder, there is no access to the greenway and other areas of city parks for regular patrol vehicles.
The $40,575 grant would come from the U.S. Department of Justice's Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program, City Manager Janice Casteel said, and would require no matching local funds.
"It's a 100 percent grant, federal money,'' she said.
Among other items, the police department wants two Segways and two all-terrain vehicles for policing city parks, the greenway and special events such as the Halloween Block Party.
In a memo to the Cleveland City Council, Chief Snyder said the grant money also will be used to buy two all-terrain vehicles for the parks and greenway and special equipment for the department's SWAT and bomb units. Those items include a brass collector for the firing range to retrieve and recycle brass, according to the memo.
The grant program was named by the U.S. Department of Justice to honor a New York City police officer who was killed in 1988 while protecting a vital witness in a drug case.
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No it's not 100 percent grant, federal money. It's my money you idiots.
How about putting some of those overweight, can hardly breathe while standing still, cops to walk the greenway. Might do them some good, help their health, and use their legs for a change. They do have radios to call for help or oxygen until they open their lungs a bit.
Of course, this gives an opportunity for someone with an entrepreneurial spirit to open a Krispy Kreme shop along the greenway. Imagine the row of Segways and golf carts.
But let's take it easy on the Cleveland Cops. Their Keystone Cop antics are funny enough already.
Harry Statel