Top Team, Lasers to Aid Traffic Cops
To catch speeding motorists, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) has introduced hand-held LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) laser guns. Chicago police say the laser guns are more accurate compared to radar, and that each of the city’s 25 police districts will have one.
Cmdr. Neal Sullivan of CPD’s Traffic Division says the department intends to buy 50 more of the guns in addition to the 15 it presently has.
Training is being provided to officers from shifts in each district so that at any point in time, at least one LIDAR gun could be in use in each district.
A test program in the Northwest Side that began in early September 2006 has resulted in the issuing of nearly 500 speeding tickets, said police.
Members of CPD’s newly created Targeted Traffic Team (T3) will also get the LIDAR guns; the unit will be dispatched to different locations in reaction to citizen complaints, accident statistics, and observations from police officials. T3, which comprises 25 officers and three sergeants, has written upwards of 1,300 tickets since its inception on September 22.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) from the Chicago Tribune (10/11/06) P. C1; Noel, Josh .
