Green police: Brighton's finest try battery power

Milk float? Golf buggy? No, it's the patrol car criminals won't hear coming

Patrick Barkham
The Guardian,
Saturday July 26 2008

Villains were on the run yesterday - although it would have been enough to skateboard or stroll - as Sussex police unveiled their latest crime-fighting machine.
Propelling officers from 0-28mph in a matter of seconds, the two-seater electric patrol car radiated the intimidating power of a golf buggy or a milk float as it glided silently around Brighton.
With an impish twinkle in its headlights, the Gem did not emit much of an authoritative charge. Crucially, however, the nine eight-volt batteries stowed beneath its two seats did not emit any nasty pollutants either.
In full Sussex police livery - but minus the flashing blue lights - the Gem was overtaken on the promenade by bicycles, mobility scooters and cutting-edge electric technology from the 19th century - the Volk's train, the oldest working electric railway in the world.
Pensioners dropped sandwiches, children sniggered and street cleaners had to shovel up their jaws. A breakdown truck pulled over and the driver whipped out his mobile phone camera. "I can't wait until I recover that," shouted Dickie Lupton. "That's brilliant."
Giving the Gem a run for its money in his mobility scooter, Arthur Murryfield cast doubt on its ability to catch up with criminals. "The police should be out walking, like they used to," he grumbled.
Mostly, however, people cooed "it's very Brighton" as they gazed admiringly at the £12,500 machine, which has a "roaming" range of 50 miles and takes seven hours to recharge its batteries.
"We could do with more of them," said Garry Butler, a daytripper from West Kingsdown in Kent. "It would be ideal to break up the kids and stop them hanging outside the local shops."
"They wouldn't hear it coming," added his wife, Pauline.
"Marvellous," said Paul Smurthwaite. "It's a brilliant idea in the city, on the sea front and patrolling the undercliff."
With a special "red permit" allowing her to drive any police vehicle under three-and-a-half tonnes, PCSO Kelly Joel expertly took the Gem up to 24mph as it sailed up and down the hilly streets of Brighton. Other officers leaned out of the windows at police headquarters in envy.
"It's absolutely fantastic. Very very nippy," she said. "It doesn't hesitate to go up the hill."
"It's a low-speed pursuit vehicle," joked Andy de Sallis, UK managing director of Gem - Global Electric Motorcars - which is part of the Chrysler group. "It's the only vehicle where if you put your foot right down you still won't set off a speed camera."
Inspector Andy Richardson said the Gem would be deployed on a trial basis for neighbourhood policing and street meetings. "It's not the best thing to pursue someone in. I don't think we'll be doing that," he said.
With left-hand drive and no doors, the Gem is more accessible than ordinary police vehicles and Richardson said he hoped it would help break down barriers between the police and the communities they serve. Costing just 1.5p per mile on current electricity prices, it is also much cheaper to run than an ordinary patrol car.
More than 45,000 of the vehicles have been sold around the world and clients include Nasa and US police forces. Coming in two, four and six-seat "stretch" versions, the Gem is being looked at by other police forces in the UK as well as local councils and commercial companies.
The electric vehicle is on trial for Sussex police until after Brighton's Gay Pride festival next Saturday, where it will be on display.
Sussex police have tried innovative forms of police transport before, including rollerblades. "They didn't last long," said a police spokeswoman.
But she said the force was seriously considering purchasing a vehicle although there were no plans to fit it with flashing blue lights.
"Blue lights and sirens indicate they are in a position to respond to an emergency and that's not what they are about," she said.