Cops giving out radar guns and encouraging citizens to tattle on neighbors

Separate and divide neighbors - it worked in Germany, worked in the Middle East, now the chickenhawks are coming home to roost....

Fight back. Unify with your neighbors against a corrupt government.


http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20071023/a_radargun23.art.htm

Volunteer neighbors radar gunslingers nail speeders

By Joanne Bratton
USA TODAY

Speeders beware. Your neighbors might have you on their radar.

That's the message police departments across the country are trying to send by loaning residents radar guns and turning them into neighborhood speed watchers.

Volunteers can't ticket the drivers they catch breaking the speed limit, but their reports can result in warning letters being sent by police, depending on how fast the drivers were going.

Police say the program is worth it if it can make even a few motorists obey speed limits. "It's one more element of enforcing speed," says Lt. Daniel Furseth of the DeForest Police Department in Wisconsin.

For the past year, the village has allowed residents to borrow a battery-operated radar gun for a week or two, sit on their front lawns and record the speeds of passing motorists.

Typically, a warning letter is sent when speeds are 13 mph over the limit, but it depends on the residential area, Furseth says.

The police department has sent out a couple dozen warning letters, he says. "One parent called and was glad we sent a letter," Furseth says. "But it's not always the kids (who are speeding) — it's the soccer moms, too."

Elsewhere:

•Residents in Loveland, Ohio, are invited to sign up in teams of two or three to use the Stalker II, a hand-held, battery-operated radar gun.

•In the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Ill., residents affiliated with homeowners associations use the radar guns. "Some people seemed surprised. Some took notice and slowed down," says Bob Fischer, director of the Naperville Area Homeowners Confederation. "Others were angry that we were interfering with their inherent right to get to the train station — or back home — as quickly as possible."

•In Shawnee, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City, police allow residents to use radar guns on residential streets that are posted 25 mph or less, police Sgt. Doug Orbin says. The volunteer must stay in his or her vehicle while using the radar gun, he says.

•This week, the police department in The Dalles, Ore., started taking names of interested citizens who want to be neighborhood speed watchers.

On edit, I'd much prefer public education that says "Did you know that at 20 MPH, the survival rate for a pedestrian struck by a car is 95%. At 30 MPH, it’s 60%, and even worse at higher speeds---which is why we ask you to drive slowly in residential areas and near schools." That REALLY impressed me and I drive much more slowly in residential areas, cuz gawd I sure never want to kill anyone.

Oh, please.

I live in a very residential area -- kids, older people, cats, dogs.

And I see people all the time who use the street I live on as their personal speedway.

People should obey the speed limits in residential areas.

And the people who live in those residential areas should have the means to assist the police in making sure people obey the speed limits there.

This is a good thing.

folks should learn to obey the speed limit - I say this after yelling at a car that flew past me just now when I was outside with my dogs.

And btw, driving is not a right, it is a privilege. If they want speed they need to get out and run.

NOTHING.

I guess the police departments just like handing out expensive equipment to citizens.

It's probably just good "PR" for police departments, right?

:sarcasm:

Explain to me exactly how this helps ENFORCE the law, if I'm so wrong.

A citizen volunteer who goes through the class ends up with no police powers, but he DOES get to sit in school zones in a police car with a radar gun.

You tell me how many people are going to speed through said school zone if they see a cop car with a radar gun out the window sitting there.

These kinds of programs absolutely improve safety for kids in the school zone.

Besides, most of the time it is the residents who REQUEST such programs. I live about two blocks from a school, and some days I'm tempted to go park a row of cement blocks in the street to slow down some of the jackasses who feel the need to race past my house.

Worked here in California.

That is called PROACTIVE action.

instead of recruiting more division because that is what this is, just like every other snitch policy.

Just a guess.

Our street is a one-way street that many use as a cut-through to avoid a long light at a nearby intersection. The city has archaic rules that define which streets qualify for speed bumps. Ours does not. But there are many children on this street, and I am constantly worried that someone is going to be hit.
In situations like this, I wouldn't mind doing a little bit of speed tracking, if it will send a message that people need to slow down.

in the neighborhood. And speed bumps affect you less the faster you go.

We used to live in a neighborhood in Florida with a speed bump right in front of our house. Didn't slow traffic except for maybe 30 feet either side of the bump, but it DID allow us to experience the joys of squeaky brakes, hot-brake smell, and car fumes whenever we stepped out our front door in the morning (catalytic converters don't work so well when a car isn't warmed up). Yuk.

If someone put one on my street, I'd want it taken out.

Besides, speed bumps slow down all vehicles -- including firetrucks and ambulances.

If people want to speed through residential neighborhoods -- where kids, old people, and pets live -- they should pay a price -- monetarily and legally.

Speed bumps don't do that.

eom.

Just go get the chip implanted so the authorities know exactly what you're doing every second of the day. Does that make you feel better?

I yelled "slow down you crazy fucker, this is a residential neighborhood!" It was a cop...

on a quiet Saturday morning, I saw two cop cars drag race in front of me, one narrowly cutting off the other before they turned into, you guessed it: a donut shop. No lie.

Slammed into a car and killed a lady.And I've NEVER seen a Statie going under 80 mph on the highway here in Mass.

I am fairly sure Loveland and Naperville are.

I live in Mason, OH which is next door to Loveland. Speeding is a problem in the area. It is common to see people driving 15-20 mph over the speed limit all over town. The only time people slow down in the school zones is when there is a cop with radar set up, other than that it is a free for all. I routinely go the speed limit in Mason and I am always being tailgated by people talking on their frigging cell phones and not paying attention to their driving. If given the chance I would not mind using the damn radar gun on occasion. The only thing the person speeding gets is a letter from the police chief stating when, where and what their speed was. No ticket can be issued since a police officer did not clock the speeder. One can only hope that the person receiving the letter will slow down after receiving the letter.

I understand the issue with neighbors turning neighbors in. I don't think that is generally a good idea but I have kids and I don't appreciate people speeding in our community. We have also had too many bad accidents in the area where people have been killed or seriously injured. The only other way to reduce speeding is to have the police set up more radar/laser "speed traps." When that happens people will also complain. Complaining is good but if you don't like the policy please list what you would do to stop the speeders.

on E-bay?:evilgrin:

Stupid city people think it's OK to drive 70MPH down a narrow country road. A few years back we had a 17 year old kid killed down the street when a loose cow wandered out onto the road in front of him. At 80+ MPH his choices were Cow, Oak Tree, or Almond Orchard. He chose the orchard, and ended up just as dead as the other two options would have made him.

Another big problem we have here is with our horses. Lots of people near me own horses, and we like to ride them along our quiet...barely two lane wide...country road with the 40 MPH speed limit. It never fails that some ass with a bumping stereo or a cellphone plastered to his ear will come blasting down the road at 75MPH with his tires 2 inches from the edge of the pavement. If you want to spook a horse, that will do it every time. My daughter was nearly thrown when she was 12 because of some dumbass doing just that.

So, when we see people speeding down our road, we yell at them and throw things. Not too mature, but it gets their attention.

If radar guns were available to us, we'd use them in a heartbeat.

Throwing rocks at cars (even cars that are speeding) could get you arrested.

And, if one of the rocks you throw causes death or injury, you could be in big trouble.

If that counts for anything.

We're actually trying to get the speed limit lowered to 35MPH on our road, and get a bunch of Botts Dots installed to discourage people from driving down here. There really isn't that much to see down our narrow little dirt road, but some people have figured out that it's a shortcut around some heavy traffic areas at rush hour. The county refused our request for speed bumps (fire trucks), so we're aiming for built-in annoyances now.

Just ask the asshole that tossed a chunk of curb at my truck a couple years back... His face has never been quite the same since.

I thought why not just hit them with your car?

Tell you what, you throw your rock at my car, and then I deal with you, and then you tell me how safe *you* feel.

Came out yelling and screaming at us that he was going to call the police. We helpfully pointed out to him that we have the entire road under video surveillance (we have gas theft issues), and that it would make good evidence if he really wanted to press charges. We then mentioned that his speed could be calculated from that too.

He dropped it. I think he was doing about 90MPH.

Little rocks, fast cars, slow middle aged tossers. Those cars are in no danger...we haven't hit one yet.

sitting in their yard and pointing a hair dryer at passing cars?

and I'd say the average speed is probably 75 mph. I'd be only too happy to clock the assholes that speed by. We've had two dogs hit by cars in the last 20 years and about 20 acres of dry pasture catch fire from a cigarette that some douchebag threw into the grass. At one time all the mailboxes on this road were full of holes from idiots firing shot into them.

It ain't a matter of me ratting anybody out to the cops. I hate that as much as anybody. It's a matter of me protecting my own property.

Maybe, just maybe, 75 mph is safe. Three incidents in twenty years?! I'm sure other folks on this thread would love to have that incident rate.

:sarcasm:

:nuke:

I was behind some moron driving 45 mph and weaving on the interstate today. Why? Because he was talking on the freaking cell phone. Sigh.

you betcha darlin - I'll give you as many bug zappas as you want to get them nasty neighbors o yours.

;)

Where do I sign up??

I want to get those rat bastids that go 55 in a 30 mph zone

and won't let me get out of my driveway!

Fockers!!!! :grr: Paybacks a mutha focker!!

:toast:

:P

I'm so sick of the assholes racing by my house and it goes on early

morning rush hour and then when they come home again. :grr:

My son can't get out to go to work, if he has to leave at 4 or 5 or 6 pm.

It's soooo aggravating!!

And the police park in my driveway, AFTER the rush hour!! Big help they are!!! NOT!!!

:toast:

;)

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!! :rofl: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin:

I'm gettin' me a radar TOMORROW!!!! :evilgrin:

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin:

get the radar gunz and the neighborhood snitch ticket padz.

Those who kiss the Bush bootay...........

It ain't gonna be the citizens who pay attention, its gonna be those who like to radar and like Bush.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin:

They have them in Britain, and we need them in the U.S. Set up a camera on the side of the road with a calibrated radar gun, and when speeders go by they get real tickets with real fines attached.

Speed cameras aren't a horrible idea. They actually are a good idea.

But cameras are becoming the "answer" to everything when in fact humans like every other animal need sacred space and our privacy (biological need I might add) and cameras are doing everything to remove that from us.

That's what bothers me.

on your way, endangering others. Your ticket comes weeks later. It's strictly a money making device. Ok, so you might think twice next time, but it's too late if you've killed a kid the day you were speeding.

In the U.S., where speed cameras have been implemented, they have been primarily implemented as revenue generators. Put a camera on an open stretch of road where the speed limit is set artificially low and watch the ticket revenue roll in, just like placing red-light cameras on intersections with the yellow light set too short.

:sarcasm:

Vigilantism is alive and well in Amerika. But that has always been the case.

All these folks with the radar guns probably are the same ones campaigning against cell phone towers because they cause "electrosmog".

Fahrenheit 451, anyone?

:shrug:

:silly:

http://www.humaniteinenglish.com/article542.html">Violence on the Increase in the USA

Translated Tuesday 10 April 2007, by Emily Schirrer

Washington. The crime rate continues to rise despite ultra-safe policies.

Violent crime has been seeing a steady increase in the USA since 2005, escalating, in the first half of this year,
by 2.7%. Last year, crime rose 2.5% – the most significant increase since 1990. FBI statistics, released this
week, show that cities with 500,000 to a million inhabitants had the most marked increase in violence.

snip-->

...at the expense of local-level police work, who have dropped in number by 10% since 2001.

---------------------

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-12-01-cops-cover_x.htm">Federal, local cuts pull cops off streets

MINNEAPOLIS —

The federal program that added more than 100,000 cops to local police forces and helped to cut
crime to historically low rates during the past decade is being rolled back because local
governments can't afford to keep many of the officers on the street.

The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program was a hallmark of the Clinton administration,
providing more than $8 billion in grants to saturate crime-plagued areas with officers and forging
unprecedented ties between cops and neighborhood patrols. From New York to Los Angeles, "community
policing" became a symbol of America's frustration with the high crime rates of the early 1990s —
and of governments' big spending in a soaring economy.

But now budgets are leaner, and law enforcement analysts say that the largest federally
funded buildup of local police in U.S. history is being washed away by cutbacks and retirements.

It can be intimidating to get a letter from the cops.

What safeguards are there to prevent a citizen snitch from abusing the system?

:sarcasm:

Can't stand that shit hole

While it's probably not a good idea to arm the citizens with radar guns, I take my life in my own hands whenever I walk to the store to get a pop. Most people speed around here and a lot of people will turn left in front of a pedestrian if they think they can beat them to the middle of the intersection. I can't count the times I have almost been creamed.

people driving 50 or so in a 25 slamming on the brakes and "oh my God" breathing. People look at their speedometer when they think they are about to splatter a baby across the road.

........oncoming traffic, causing a head-on fiery crash with a bus full of Nuns, babies, orphans and puppies?

anyone obeying the law would be driving at a rate of speed allowing them to easily see it was not a real baby.

What about people NOT obeying the law? Fiery crashes for them? What about the person minding their own business, traveling the opposite direction, when the speeder swerves head-on in to their car?

street. Since they had no respect for the people living there we found a way to make them have some.

I wanted to have them installed in our moderately heavily traveled alley (between two oe-way streets) but my buddy warned me not to do it. He has one outside his building and he says it's like living near a highway on ramp - with cars slowing down and speeding up and the constant "bump bump" day and night.

People still speed, but they force speeders to keep their foot on the brake more often than the accelerator, so it's never as bad as without them. People who are determined to speed tend to find another route, which is what people in the neighborhood wanted in the first place.

Remember "The Crucible"? Neighbors hating neighbors.

What's wrong with citizens taking an active roll in the protection of their areas? Isn't that what a "community" is?

As long as they are not taking the law into their own hands or only targeting certain citizens, what's wrong with it?

Because that's "tattling".

And nobody likes a tattle-tale.

:eyes:

a lot of drivers just getting off of work, who speed through, trying to avoid freeway traffic (usually while blabbing on their cellphones). I wouldn't have a problem with forcing them to slow down. Why would I worry about "squealing" on someone who obviously has no respect for my neighborhood or apparent concern for the safety of kids, bikers, joggers or pets along those roads? (Not to mention the disproportionate number of auto accidents at the intersections.)

drivers who are drunk, DUI, and talking on their god damn cell phones! I'd rather cruise at 75mph on the open roads than to putt putt along at 55 and risk falling asleep.

Nope, no possibility for abuse there.
:D

But that's about it.