Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 23, 1995 TAG: 9503230060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BREEA WILLINGHAM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Hawk radar, a cable-box look-alike that sits on the dash of a patrol car, lets police track speeding vehicles better than older models can.
Unlike its predecessors, the Hawk has two antennae and can detect speeding vehicles in several directions.
"The difference with the Hawk and the other radars is, at any given time, with the push of a button, the radar can pick up vehicles traveling in any direction - toward me, behind me, even traffic moving away from me," said state Trooper J.W. Hogan, who was patrolling Virginia 24 in Bedford County on Tuesday.
The older radar had only one antenna and could detect only vehicles coming toward the patrol car.
To detect a trooper in the area, some motorists use radar detectors or jamming devices that transmit signals to prevent radar from picking up the vehicles' speed.
The Hawk, however, can detect vehicles that have these illegal devices.
"The jamming device in vehicles detect the radar, but the Hawk can detect the vehicles with those devices by picking up the frequency from the device," Hogan said.
Hogan demonstrated how the "hold" feature is used to detect vehicles that have radar detectors.
When the Hawk is in the hold position, radar detectors can't detect the trooper's radar. If the vehicle slows down when the hold is released, the trooper has good reason to suspect that the motorist has a detector.
The new radar is one method state police are using to decrease the number of fatalities on Virginia 24.
The state police received a $20,000 grant from the Department of Motor Vehicles to pay officers overtime to patrol the highway.
"There are a lot of wrecks on 24; people pass on double lines, pass stopped school buses or do 90" mph, Hogan said.
According to 1st Sgt. Bobby Ratliff of the Bedford County state police headquarters, there usually is one officer, and sometimes two, patrolling Virginia 24. Since the Hawk radar system has been used, accidents have decreased, he said.
"We've noticed a decline in the number of accidents in the last four months. As the enforcement goes up, the accident rate goes down, and as the enforcement goes down, the accident rate goes up," Ratliff said.
"We want to increase awareness and say, `Hey, the law is being enforced.'''
State police started using the Hawk in Bedford County about two months ago. There are two Hawk radars in the county's state police office and one or two in each office in the state.
Roanoke County police have had the Hawk about six years. Roanoke police have had it a year. Each department has one unit, officers said.
by CNB