Police Forum - Radar Detectors

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon_Doh

I don't know where you read something like this, but radar is simply a tool that police officers use to verify an opinion they have formed regarding an automobile speeding. State statutes always require that the officer must first form an opinion the vehicle is speeding; said opinion is based on training and the officer's professional judgment. Then the use of a speed measuring device (radar, VASCAR) may be employed to verfiy that professional opinion. They aren't looking over your shoulder illegally looking at your speedometer.

The state statutes require it because searches must be based on "reasonable cause." That would also be found in, for example, the Constitution.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon_Doh

But look at it another way. If you break the law in front of an officer's eyes, then he has probable cause to arrest and/or search you incident to the arrest. If you are speeding, you are breaking the law and even under your scenerio that gives the officer probable cause to "search your vehicle by looking over your shoulder at your speedometer".

If the officer sees me come running out of the liquor store with a gun in one hand and a sack of twenties in the other hand, that's reasonable cause.

The point is that LEs make a pretense of being able to pick out one car out of a bunch at night to estimate speed (for example) when actually they are in violation of those "state statutes" by relying on the radar gun for their "reasonable cause." Then they mis-speak themselves (to use Richard Nixon's phrase) in court.