By David Fleet
Editor
Atlas Twp. — The sheriff department has added a new tool to patrol cars.
This month, the Genesee County Sheriff Office purchased and installed the new radar Stalker Lidar RLR on the cars assigned to patrol the township. The laser guns bounce a narrow beam off a moving vehicle to measure its speed in as little as half a second and up to a mile away.
“Policing is more than just stopping people going to work and school,” said Chris Swanson, Genesee County Sheriff. “It’s part of it, but we focus on more than just speed. There’s also red lights, stop signs, reckless driving, and seat belt enforcement on the roadway to name a few.”
“When I took over as sheriff in 2019, we did a complete overhaul of all our equipment, the radar in the (patrol) cars were not a priority, however, tools such as dash cams in the cars were,” he said. “That was phase one. But we are not going to use radar as a weapon in the community, rather a tool. We want to use our traffic stops as an opportunity to curb behaviors and provide a positive reaction.”
The radar is just one of several ways to help encourage safe speeds in the community.
In April the Goodrich Village Council OK’d the purchase of two solar speed aware signs for East Hegel and Ridge roads for $3,740 each.
The 13 inch Radar sign brand display features a “Slow Down” and “Too Fast” speeder alert messages, plus three levels of flashing speeds. Also, the Street Smart Data collection system provides weekly, daily, hourly and 1/2 hour data of vehicles. The data includes the number of speeders, average speeds, peak speeds, 50th and 85th percentile.
Swanson emphasized that using radar or hiding behind trees and buildings to catch people is the wrong message from law enforcement.
“That’s not our mission,” he said. “Our mission is to keep people safe and driving the speed limit. The majority of our interactions in Atlas Township are positive, and if it sometimes requires a ticket to send a message home, then we’ll do that.”
The radar guns are calibrated and once they are recorded on the citation, it’s virtually impossible to challenge and succeed in court given the technology, he added.