PoliceLink

Ok.  I know many of you working in Mississippi their whole career think there is nothing unusual about Sheriff's Depts not running radar.  Well, last time I heard, Lowdnes county still had a traffic enforcement unit. 

I worked as a reserve deputy and a city police officer.  We had one radar gun in the city that was rarely used becuase the police chief didn't wanna piss anyone off. 

I've heard the rumors, but what is the real story other than the 1972 traffic code?

tlwinkles379 says ...

It's been a while since I was in Mississippi so I just contacted a friend there that verified the law is the same.  For a Sheriff's Department in Mississippi to run RADAR they must file a request to the state legislature showing a need based on traffic (speed) related fatalities.  Lowdes County had it at one time but I believe their period is up.  Harrison County was the last to have RADAR but I believe they have since lost it.  For a city department to run RADAR they must have 2,500 population within the city limits and then they cannot operate RADAR on a State or U.S. highway; only on city streets.  Once a city has 15,000 population they can operate RADAR without restrictions and then the Mississippi Highway Patrol cannot "set up" RADAR within the city.  This means MHP can operate mobile but cannot sit stationary for the purpose of RADAR enforcement.  This is extremely stupid in my opinion. 

In 1994 I believe my father, who is retired from the federal government, addressed the State legislature in an attempt to have this law changed but the good ole boys wouldn't hear of it.

 

 

That pretty much sums it up...we revisit it every year...and there are several very progressive Sheriff's and offices pushing for it...still hasnt happened...so we keep wishin and hopin...

So if your an officer or deputy in Mississippi, you can't enforcee the state laws of Mississippi.  Don't seem right to me.

tlwinkles was right in saying the period for  Lowndes County to be running radar was up.  I had the conversation with one of their traffic enforcement units while at RCTA.  The period was only good for one year, but since the state has not told them to stop, they keep right on going.  If a radar breaks or is taken out of service, it is not replaced but they are still using what they have. 

ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.
REMEMBER -----------------------------------> 2009 legislation session is almost time to begin
and the " RADAR BILL " for the county Sheriff is on the list again. I just talked to my Senator and he stated to me that the " North Mississippi Democrat legislators (like Speaker of the House Billy McCoy) " is the hold up ont his bill. IF ANYONE can talk or INFLUENCE theses legislators please do and lets get this up and running.
MICHAEL

Seems to me that radar is an effective tool for making contact and subsequently getting unlicensed drivers, no insurance, DUI's and drug addicts and dealers off the roads. If MS legislature is overly concerned about improper use of radar (speed traps and such), then they should consider enacting legislation which is similar to what GA has on the books.

navyfiveo says ...

GoneToPlaid says ...

Seems to me that radar is an effective tool for making contact and subsequently getting unlicensed drivers, no insurance, DUI's and drug addicts and dealers off the roads. If MS legislature is overly concerned about improper use of radar (speed traps and such), then they should consider enacting legislation which is similar to what GA has on the books.

Fill me in.  What is the law on the books for GA.  My wife lives there now..Therefore, the interest. 

Hi navyfiveo,

Sorry that I have been away from the forum for so long. Following is a link to my compiled excerpts from the GA legal code. I haven't updated my compiled excerpts, but you will obviously see that GA has code on the books which make it extremely difficult for cities or counties to set up speed traps solely for the sake of revenue generation. In other words, GA's code is tailored for reasonable yet effective speed enforcement tactics. I uploaded the excerpts to my web site since the amount of text would exceed what I can post in a single post.

http://www.mem-tek.com/radar/GA_Code.txt

As you will see, GA's code is straightforward, and it could easily be applied to address fears of Mississippi local law enforcement being granted the authority to operate radar or lidar guns. Even though I have been an avid radar detector user for over 2 decades (since radar detectors are quite fun to use), I am an advocate of controlling and enforcing reasonable speed limits on our highways and secondary roadways. This comes from seeing dead bodies on the road due to horrific or stupid accidents. I have my own personal rule of thumb: If you are driving more than +10 of the surrounding traffic, then you deserve a ticket. Why? Because the #1 cause of highway accidents aside from other non-speed related factors such as improper lane change (weaving or no turn signal to indicate lane change) is vehicles travelling at significantly disparrent speeds. It is amazing that a 10 mph difference seems to be the "magic number" for speed related accidents, regardless of whether the driver is driving +10 or -10 of the surrounding traffic. In other words, travelling at significant speed differences relative to surrounding traffic is what either causes accidents or kills.

These observations are based not only on my own personal driving experiences of 30 years, but also are entirely backed up by fairly recent government studies. I will have to dig up the supporting government web site links to support this statement if you wish.

In any event, should the fine state of MS enact similar legislation to GA's legislation, I am sure that all fears of county or city law enforcement agencies operating radar or lidar would be put to rest.

Hmm...I love and use radar detectors, yet I rarely speed. Radar detectors simply are fun to use on long drives. And yet I know that MS local law enforcement is entirely up to the task of properly using radar and lidar equipment with proper training. It ain't rocket science, but use of said equipment does require training -- mainly to properly spot mistakes in the operation of said equipment due to a variety of potential error causing conditions. Most modern radar and lidar guns feature extremely good algorithms which help to prevent the officer operator from making mistakes or obtaining false speed readings. Thus, the real problem simply is enacting legislation which is designed to prevent the abusive of the use of said equipment simply for local revenue generation.