Posted on 06/03/2004 8:28:49 PM PDT by AM2000
PITTSBURGH - State police are taking to the woods, dressed in camouflage and armed.
Nothing +strange+ there, considering the state's strong hunting tradition, right? But the weapons are radar guns, the quarry is speeders and the season never closes.
Police at the Rockview Barracks near State College began using so-called "camo cops" patrols after a 44-vechicle crash on Interstate 80 that killed six people in January.
"As a result, there were many, many letters and questions and fingerpointing — What are you doing? What are you not doing enough of?" said Lt. Jeffrey Watson, station commander.
Watson and Sgt. David Holmes wanted to reduce speeding and accidents and came up with the idea. Holmes has used the tactic for more than a dozen years.
"People have discovered that I have means of getting to the target," Holmes said. He recalled first using camouflage in Cameron County, back in 1989, and word soon spread.
"By the end of the second day, the people were stopping at the stop sign and looking (into the woods) to wave," he said.
Rockview primarily targets speeding tractor-trailers. Truckers quickly catch on to traditional methods, such as placing a patrol car in a median or tucked behind an overpass, and then use CBs to alert others to police presence, Watson said.
The tactic is effective, Watson said, if not appreciated by those drivers ticketed.
"Oh, the truckers, they don't think it's fair. But I don't think we've lost one yet," Watson said.
The tactic is catching on with state police in other counties.
In one five-hour blitz in Indiana County last week, troopers issued 25 citations to motorists zooming along at least 15 miles faster than the posted 55 mph limit — including one leadfoot cited for going 90 mph.
"It's going to continue throughout the summer months," said Shawn Houck, a spokesman with PennDOT, which partnered with the barracks.
That police are going under cover to catch speeders shouldn't come as a surprise, Watson said. After all, they go undercover for other investigations, and variations on camouflage have been used before, such as when troopers pose as construction workers.
In 1999, police in Jacksonville, Fla., dressed as homeless people, construction workers and stranded motorists to catch traffic violators. One undercover officer even carried a sign reading, "I work for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. You never know. Drive safely." Police in Las Vegas later adopted the idea.
Jeff Kitsko, 27, of Latrobe, a Web designer who maintains a site about Pennsylvania roads, doesn't like it.
"From the safety aspect of it, if I see somebody in the woods aiming something, I'm going to want to call the cops," he said. "Especially someone dressed in camo."
Eric Skrum, the communications director for the National Motorists Association, a Wisconsin-based drivers organization that supports higher speed limits and opposes speed traps and revenue-generating traffic enforcement measures, said studies show police are effective when they're visible.
"This is a revenue maker. This is not about safety in the least," Skrum said. State police say that's not the case.
Scrum nonetheless believes the camo cops will have only a short-term effect.
"They'll slow down for a day or so, then — out of sight, out of mind," Skrum said.
They have this cool thing called "search", ever tried it?
Exactomundo!
I did, it didn't show up.
*They have this cool thing called "search", ever tried it?*
[?]
Don't quite follow that...
And I searched again - Nada.. Unless it's posted with a different title.
Like I said, different title.
You know if speeding really is such a big hazard, the absolute best thing the state cops can do is put marked cruisers on the road. Who doesn't make sure they are going the speed limit when they see a cop car???
Speed traps and this don't improve safety one bit. They just earn money for the cops.
As an amusing aside, a couple of years ago I'm driving down the highway in DE, and I see a cop car. He's behind someone going the speed limit. I'm a few cars behind and over one lane so I can tell we are going the same speed. The cop starts tailgating the guy. Closer...closer...closer...
So the guy speeds up. On go the lights. Now, maybe the cop was doing something else I can't figure out. Maybe the fact it was the 30th was a pure coincidence. But it sure seems to me the cop goaded that guy into a speeding ticket.
You can't assume that every news outlet will use the same headline. Hey, I'm not picking on you, but I've been pinged myself for not doing my homework before posting.
Its *not* the same story. Similar, same topic, but not the same story.
I wish they'd do this in FL.
And as swilhelm73 points out, the stories are different.
Maybe not the same story, but it does not need a thread of its own. You could have just posted this in the original thread.
Nope. Different story, different posting.
In Pennsylvania, standing around in the woods, wearing camo.
Since I don't see the word "Admin" anywhere in your nick, Mr. 666, would it perchance be too much to ask you to busy yourself with the topic of this thread as opposed to carping about it being posted in the first place? Or, failing that, find another place to play Online Hall Monitor? Thanks.
This was due to a sudden blinding snow squall - like driving into a fog bank. I've traveled this stretch many times and I followed the accounts closely. I don't see how speed limit enforcement was the issue.
There are always cops out all along 80 from Indiana thru Pa. I pass 3 or 4 every time I drive the distance. I haven't gotten a ticket, or even been stopped, in 20+ years, but it does seem in recent years they give you an ample cushion. A little over 70 in a 65 zone ( the whole way now ) and no problem - the whole arrangement was very copacetic, I always thought.
Yeah, I always thought so too. PA cops are fairly liberal in regards to enforcing speed limits, especially the State troopers on 80, in my exp. at least
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