LONDON -- If you can't beat them, join them.
Police in London's Royal Parks clipped on their in-line skates for the first time on Wednesday to pursue youngsters tempted to roar round Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.Equipped with knee pads, helmets and handcuffs, the "cops-on-a-roll" were also hot on the trail of thieves and drunks.
But they do face one problem -- patrolling in the rain can be lethal and in a downpour they will have to take off the blades and revert to plodding round the park on foot.
"There are designated areas in the parks where rollerblading is allowed. But they do stray off. We want to find the danger spots and deal with people who behave recklessly," Inspector Ron Cook told Reuters.
The 340-acre Hyde Park and the 275-acre Kensington Gardens are favorite haunts of the in-line skating fraternity.
But the death of a cyclist, killed in a head-on crash with an in-line skater in Hyde Park in 1995, forced the parks to impose restrictions.
Cook said police on in-line skates would now be able to react much more quickly if trouble erupted in the parks.
"We had an incident two weeks ago. A woman collapsed in the center of Hyde Park. It took 20 minutes to get a vehicle to her," he said.
The rollerblading officer "can get to incidents very quickly for resuscitation or to make an arrest," he added.
"It could be anything from a robbery to dealing with drunks," Cook said. "They could be the first officers on the scene," he added.
But the rollerblading service could grind to a halt when the skies open. "It is difficult to patrol in the rain as they are treacherous on gravel and pathways," he said.
The first officer has clipped on his blades, another is being trained up to start in a month. Two more will follow.
"We have been out this morning and the public have welcomed us. Once it is established as it is in France, Holland and the United States, I think it will take off. It is a good community relations exercise."
But would the officers be arranging a Christmas party outing to Andrew Lloyd Webber's roller-skating musical, Starlight Express? "I don't think so. That would be too much like a busman's holiday," Cook said.