You may have seen them zipping along underground, seeming quite determined and purposeful on their way from this point to that. Or perhaps you spotted them standing alone by a subway exit, like kids who want you to see but not play with their awesome new toy.

If you haven’t seen them at all, you may soon. Police officers have begun patrolling select subway stations on electric scooters, and visibility is their main selling point.

The vehicles, made by the California company T3 Motion, are used across the country in stadiums, airports, convention centers, department store parking lots, college campuses and other settings that require security personnel to cover a large area. For the New York Police Department — which has 12 total in use, in the subway, public-housing projects, Yankee Stadium and Citi Field — they are a new tool for community policing that consumes far less energy than a car and far fewer oats than a horse.

The scooters — the company calls them “zero gas emissions all-electric vehicles” — can go at a leisurely 1 mile per hour or book it at 20. Each can turn on its own axis. With an extra battery (so that one can recharge while the other runs) they can go 24/7. They emit no nasty fumes and, after the initial cost of $8,900 (retail), cost about 10 cents a day to use.

Unlike horses, which make officers tower above the crowd, or motorcycles and bicycles, which position them below pedestrians, the scooters place riders nine inches above the ground — high enough to see over people without intimidating them. “I always thought the No. 1 goal for police was serve and protect,” said Ki Nam, the company’s founder and president, “but it’s really community relations. They want to be close to the community. They want to be a command presence, yet approachable.”

In the four subway stations where these flashy Robocop gizmos are in use — Times Square, the Port Authority, Grand Central and Coney Island — people do, indeed, approach the officers. Some ask directions or seek assistance. Others just gawk at the flashy Robocop gizmos.

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(Read More: NY Times)