Utah's transit cops have a new mode of travel, thanks to the federal stimulus program.

Officers patrolling downtown Salt Lake City TRAX platforms and FrontRunner commuter-rail parking lots now are whizzing around on Segway electric scooters. The agency spent $7,900 apiece for six of the two-wheeled, upright gadgets, with all of the money coming through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The Federal Transit Administration's rules for disbursing the money required that part of it go to security, UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter said, and the Utah agency spent its share on the Segways.

"It's a very quick and easy way for officers to move around downtown and also patrol the parking lots and FrontRunner," Carpenter said.

But it's further evidence of frivolous government waste to critics of the $787 billion stimulus spending.

"Sounds like they got some fun toys," said state Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland. "Wouldn't bicycles be more effective? If they're talking downtown Salt Lake, bikes would be healthier and more cost-effective."

Not that Dougall would support federal dollars for bikes, which UTA cops already had before the stimulus grant.

"The whole concept, that somehow D.C. is going to ride in and stimulate things, is just ludicrous," he said. "They overtax and pile up debt for our kids and grandkids."

The Davis County Sheriff's Office drew fire earlier for buying a $24,000 Harley-Davidson with stimulus funds.

Critics of UTA's spending priorities also question the Segway purchases.

Linda Hilton, an advocate for the poor from Salt Lake City's Crossroads Urban Center, said she sees passengers dangerously sprinting across the 400 South tracks daily but can't see how scooters will help.

"Why are they going from platform to platform instead of riding the train?" she asked.

Officers not using Segways sometimes enter trains for random fare checks, but more often they drive between them responding to calls.

Federal Transit Administration spokesman Paul Griffo said the agency requires UTA and other transit agencies to spend 1 percent of federal grants -- routine or economic stimulus -- on security. It is up to the local agencies, he said, to define security and spend accordingly.

UTA keeps two of the scooters in Ogden to handle FrontRunner. Officers take them on the trains and ride to parking lots along the line, looping around the cars to check on burglaries in time to make the next train.

The others stay at the intermodal hub -- Salt Lake City Central Station -- where officers use them to move between downtown light-rail platforms.

Officer Lloyd Davis said he now moves from platform to platform more quickly, because he no longer has to find a place to park his patrol car.

Standing on a Segway puts him above the crowd at platforms and helps him to see and prevent or penalize violations such as jaywalking.

"It's mostly right-of-way violations," Davis said, "people smoking on the platforms, bikes on the platforms."

The machines go up to 12.5 mph, which is fast enough to chase any violator at least until they hop over an obstruction, he said. If that happens, the officer can remove the key and continue the chase on foot.

Segways are particularly useful in public relations, not only putting officers in more frequent contact with passengers on the platforms and parking lots but also making them more visible because of the height, Davis said. During special events in which crowds swarm platforms and parking lots, such visibility helps passengers find officers and ask questions about the trains or shuttles.

"We used these at the air show at the Clearfield [FrontRunner] station," Davis said, "and they were worth their weight in gold."

Some officers still must board TRAX trains to check fares, and they don't use the Segways in those cases. But for policing routine platform violations, Carpenter said, the scooters are an environmentally sound alternative to police cars.

"It's pennies a day to charge them."

bloomis@sltrib.com