Atlanta ? Purse-snatchers beware: Atlanta police are riding shiny new $9,000 scooters and it will take at least a brisk jog to get away from them.

The city’s finest unveiled a battalion of Segway Human Transporter vehicles Tuesday. The battery-powered, two-wheeled scooters can top out at 15 mph.

Atlanta police officers demonstrate Segway Human Transporters in front of the Georgia Dome in downtown Atlanta. Shown Monday are Ambassador Force member Merritt Schatz, left, officers David Brown and Caroline Fenimore, and Ambassador Force member Ray Jimenez.

Inventor Dean Kamen introduced the gyroscope-stabilized scooters last fall after keeping them secret for months under the code names IT and Ginger.

Police in Atlanta a traffic-snarled city that never met a motor vehicle it didn’t like are borrowing six of the scooters from Kamen’s company for a two-month test run.

The department wants to know whether scooter patrols will be more effective than foot or bicycle patrols, and also hopes to use the machines to boost police visibility.

A few officers showed off their new two-wheeled toys in a demonstration for the TV cameras.

“It’s much easier to ride this than walk,” Officer Jennings Kilgore said.

The scooter detects tiny shifts in body weight, rolling forward or backward depending on which way its user leans. Its gyroscopes make it difficult to fall from or to topple.

The police will use them in patrols at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport and in the downtown business district. The debt-ridden department has not committed itself to buying any of the machines.

“Don’t even ask me about the money,” Maj. John Woodard said.

Atlanta is the first city to give the scooters a broad tryout, according to Segway officials.