Dubai is about to seriously upgrade its police force by equipping them with hoverbikes so they can pursue perps in style.
The bikes, which look like speeders Luke and Leia rode through the forests of Endor, (Star Wars reference guys) are called Hoversurf Scorpions and they’ve been unveiled at the Gitex Technology conference.
Dubai police will use the hoverbikes for emergency response scenarios as the bikes have the ability to hover above the traffic and avoid congestion.
According to Mashable, the bikes are Russian-made and can carry weights of up to 600 pounds, with a top speed of 43 miles per hour and offers 25 minutes of use per charge.
Even more impressively the bike can fly autonomously for four miles, why? We don’t know but we know it’s super cool!
The Scorpion-3 model reportedly had a built-in safety system while it was in development which prevented the rider from losing control if they were going too fast but it’s unclear whether the model, bought by the Dubai police, will have the same features.
Alexander Atamanov, the Hoversurf CEO, announced on Facebook the Dubai police have signed a deal which will allow Hoversurf to start mass producing the hover bikes for them to use.
This isn’t the first high-tech gadget Dubai have bought for its police.
They use luxury supercars for their patrol cars and autonomous cars linked with drones to chase criminals like the cars in Blade Runner 2049.
They’ve even got a robot police officer who, while not as cool as Robocop, is pretty useful.
It patrols the Dubai mall and can answer questions, provide information about services on its touchscreen computer, process fines and tickets, and even use its camera eyes to record perps.
The Dubai police force aren’t the only public service who’ve been given some futuristic equipment, the Dubai fire department use ‘jet packs’ to fight fires!
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.