Pa. Lawmakers Take New Look at Local Police Radar
A key Pennsylvania state Senator thinks the tide may be turning regarding the decades-long opposition to allowing local police departments to use radar to catch speeders. He's behind a bill that could put radar in the hands of police in the Philadelphia region.
KYW's Tony Romeo reports state Senate Transportation Committee Chairman John Rafferty, a suburban Philadelphia Republican, believes there's interest in a bill he's proposed to allow some local police to use radar, if voters approve it:
"Secondly, it has to be a full-time police department or a regional police department."
Rafferty says much of the opposition has come from rural lawmakers, so his bill would only allow radar in the state's 16 most populous counties. Opponents worry that local police will use radar to raise revenue. At a hearing on Tuesday, David Eshbach of the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association called that 'insulting':
"Your local police chiefs are not interested in serving as a cash collector for local government."
State police, meanwhile, are asking lawmakers for the ability to use "moving radar" and a more accurate speed-detection system that uses infrared beams called LIDAR.
