When covering large public events, BaySecur assigns Segway ® Personal Transporters (HTs) to their patrol leaders for ease of transportation, better sight lines, quicker change of location, and increased acceptance from event-goers.

Security services are faced with the challenge of handling larger and larger events with ever-growing turnout numbers. Security firm BaySecur GmbH is one of the largest players in Germany, and having drawn from ample experience securing such large events as German Soccer League matches and World Youth Day, they have much to say about the topic.

As a joint venture between Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH (subsidiary of Bayer AG, known as the makers of Aspirin®) and G4S Sicherheitsdienste GmbH, BaySecur handles not only events, but also company premises of every kind. They constantly seek new solutions that not only broaden the range of security patrols, but are also non-obtrusive to event-goers and employees alike.

In order to accomplish these goals, BaySecur acquired three Segway PTs for trial-usage and assigned the futuristic-looking electric Personal Transporters to their security officers. The result - security officers arrived at the scene of incidents faster and were seen as more good-natured by event visitors. While securing buildings or other premises security patrols could cover up to three times as much area.

Faster than by Foot
BaySecur was in need for greater mobility on patrols that were limited by the range and walking speed of the officer, when they set out to find “accelerators” that could aid the security patrolman, especially at large events or in wide areas. Several options came to mind, such as the well-known golf cart and the 4-wheel ATV; then there was also the newly invented, self-balancing electric Personal Transporter, the Segway PT.

Upon evaluating the three devices, BaySecur found the 4-wheeler advantaged in speed, the golf cart in its ability to transport more than one person, but the security experts valued practicability the most and found the Segway PT easy to transport. More importantly, they found that the security officer remains a directly approachable person on the Segway PT. And it is the approachability, BaySecur officers have found, that helped in the de-escalation of incidences.

“Upon encountering one of our officers on a Segway PT, first your curiosity is peaked, and at the same time it makes a rather friendly impression,” states Dirk Dernbach, director of BaySecur. “This amazing technology just melts away the usual skepticism towards the security officer.”

Test-drive and Approval
Personnel can easily learn to operate the Segway PT. BaySecur simply shows the riders the included safety video and gives their employs an opportunity to practice.

BaySecur operates the Segway PTs on private property with the permission of the property owners. But in Germany at-large, the Segway PT is not yet authorized for use on public pavements.

“A recently published study by the University of Kaiserslautern, along with the police and lawmakers in Saarland, advised that a Segway PT quickly interacts problem-free with other sidewalk users because of its high maneuverability, ” said Reinhold Eder, director of Urban Mobility - Segway Deutschland GmbH. “We are eager to see how the political decision makers will assess the recommendations. It is clear however: We are a big step further to experiencing an amazing, and at the same time practical, technology for everyday life in Germany.”

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