By Mallory Bowman
PHOTO GALLERY: Mo-peds aid in campus patrols (Photos by Chuck Stinson)
The University of Louisville’s Department of Public Safety has added mo-peds to its fleet of vehicles to increase its presence on campus.
Eight Yamaha mo-peds loaned to U of L by Louisville Metro Police’s 4th Division early last summer are almost ready for campus use.
Maj. Kenny Brown of DPS said four of the mo-peds will mainly be used to increase patrol of the campus parking lots. Two of them will be given to the parking division and two were deemed unusable because of mechanical failures.
DPS will be reaping the largest benefits of the vehicles.
“The university was looking for alternate means of patrolling the campus and the 4th Division had these mo-peds which weren’t being used,” Brown said.
Maj. David Ray of the 4th Division said when the county and city governments merged in 2003, the mo-peds were no longer needed.
”They were originally purchased to patrol in the Iroquois Park area and they fell into disuse,” Ray said.
“Then, at a meeting with DPS, we decided they would be useful to U of L. Since they weren’t being used, we arranged to loan them out.”
Brown said the mo-peds aren’t a direct response to recent campus crime, even though they are to be used mainly in campus parking lots, which have been the focus of several thefts in the last two years.
“These are more of a response to looking at a better way of getting around campus,” he said. “We looked at these because they can carry more equipment than an officer can on foot.”
Brown said in the past the parking lots, especially the stadium lot and the Fourth Street lot, have been primarily patrolled on foot.
The mo-peds, which travel between 25 and 30 miles per hour, will allow for quicker patrolling and response time in the lots and across campus.
“They will just add another dimension to our bike, foot and car patrols,” Brown said.
DPS Maj. Robert Bringhurst, who is in charge of the mo-peds, agreed that response time is a key issue.
“The response time will be quicker to problems in parking lots, especially at the stadium and at the Fourth Street lot.
“While walking from one end of the lot to another may take five to ten minutes, the officer can move back and forth more quickly with these, patrolling more often and eliminating that dead time.”
Brown said the mo-peds needed mechanical work and all DPS officers had to be trained to use them.
Bringhurst said the reason students haven’t seen officers out on the vehicles is mainly because of weather.
“There are a few officers that aren’t trained on them yet, but the reason you haven’t seen them out right now is just the weather conditions,” he said.
”They really cannot be ridden in cold weather because when you are in the open going down the road at 25 miles per hour, 30 degrees feels closer to zero,” Bringhurst said.
”Once the weather gets nice, you’ll see them in the parking lots mostly.”
Brown said although the mo-peds are primarily for use on Belknap campus, the department is considering using them at the Health Sciences and Shelby Campuses.
“We would get them to HSC before we would Shelby campus because of the number of campus crimes reported per campus,” he said.
Student safety was considered in the decision to bring the mo-peds on campus. Brown said safety was addressed in the training.
“Our officers must and will give due regard to staff, students and all pedestrians.”
The mo-peds are currently being kept in the Floyd Street Garage with the other DPS vehicles, and Bringhurst projected students will be seeing them put to full use in the spring.
