NCJ Number
184463
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 67 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2000 Pages: 42-47
Date Published
July 2000
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The radar and laser technology used in speed detection in traffic law enforcement has become sophisticated tools over the last four decades.
Abstract
The procedures for using radar in the 1960’s and 1970’s were lengthy, cumbersome, and inadequate in many ways. The use of radar was successfully challenged in court in 1979. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the International Association of Chiefs of Police believed that the questionable practices should be solved and agreed to collaborate on improving the use of radar through improving training and testing the performance claims of manufacturers. Major developments over the next decade included same-direction technology and the ability to identify a target and also display the next fastest target in the radar beam. Additional developments include the use of digital processing in Direction Sensing Radars to display the speed of a vehicle traveling in only one direction and the development in the 1980’s of the laser for speed detection. Tables