Saturday, November 06, 1999
Police signal to warn of cruisers in area
BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — The next time your radar detector talks to you, it might be Covington police on the horn.
New technology the police department unveiled Friday will trigger some radar detectors to say: “Emergency vehicle approaching.” The idea, besides getting people to slow down, is to help protect officers working accidents on the interstate by warning drivers a cruiser is in the area.
“We figured, we can't beat 'em,” Lt. Col. Bill Dorsey said. “So we're gonna join 'em.”
The $300 devices are hooked in to the cruiser's emergency lights system. So whenever an officer turns on his lights, the black boxes emit a radar signal the detectors pick up. That's different than now — radar detectors only go off when an officer is using his radar gun to find speeders.
The devices are in two cruisers and the department's crime lab van now, but officials plan to buy more if the first ones prove beneficial.
“Anything to make it safer,” said Sgt. George Russell, the department's traffic supervisor.
He was in his cruiser investigating an accident on the interstate several years ago when his car was hit by an oncoming driver. He was knocked unconscious.
“People don't always see us out there,” he said. “This will help.”
Only the most recent radar detector models “talk.” With older models, the new devices will cause detectors to emit the same sound they do when an officer is running radar in the area.
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