USUPD recieves $12,000 for new equipment
The USU Police Department recently had state-of-the-art radar equipment installed in its vehicles, thanks to a special $12,000 grant from the Utah Highway Safety Office (UHSO). The grant also funded an expensive laser-based, handheld speed detection unit.
“The main catch with the money is that it has to be used for traffic safety efforts,” said Sgt. Ted Tingey of the UHSO. “What’s nice about partnering with these university police departments is because they reach a high percentage of a population that’s in that risk group of tending to be more aggressive with their driving.”
University students also tend to buckle their seatbelts less and are more prone to underage drinking. Tingey said he is happy to aid USUPD with extra funding because they can help curb some of these traffic-related issues.
Sgt. Jessica Elder of the USUPD said in order to get the grant, she filled out a request and the UHSO looked at what the department had and what it needed. An assessment of area roads was also included in the process.
“We were lacking some equipment,” Elder said. “Basically not all the officers were able to go out and do speed enforcements. Now everybody, no matter what car they’re in – five patrol vehicles, well, two are unmarked – have the equipment.”
Capt. Milne of the USUPD said the number one goal of his department is to ensure safety and educate residents in its jurisdiction on how to better adhere to the law.
Each vehicle has the mounted “Stalker DSR – 2x” radar unit which Elder said is capable of tracking the speed of vehicles going toward and away from a moving police car. The unit can track four vehicles at the same time – two in each direction.
“Not a lot of people have them, they’re very nice,” Elder said. “They eliminate a lot of error that people think of when they think of radars.”
Milne said officers have to be radar-certified in order to use the equipment. All of USUPD’s officers have recently gotten up to speed on the new equipment and are looking to curb speeding.
USU police officers give out roughly three and a half warnings for every traffic ticket they write, Elder said. There is no set rule for how officers determine how fast is too fast, it is up to their individual discretion.
“We go everywhere around here, because pretty much anywhere around campus you’re going to get speeders,” Elder said. “We get complaints of speeders, so we’ll set up in those places. Aggie Village is one place that we’ve gotten phone calls.”
Officers get accused of writing speeding tickets just to make money for the department, but Milne said that is not how USUPD gets its funding. It does, however, get a small percentage of the fines from tickets written.
Elder said whether a ticket is given or not, traffic stops are still beneficial because they stop the person from being unsafe and possibly injuring or killing themselves or somebody else. They can also be used to see if there is a more serious crime the driver is committing at the time.
“A lot of people think that with a DUI you’re going to see somebody swerving around on the road – those are the less common DUIs,” Elder said. “I’ve had DUIs off of speeding, somebody going 15-20 mph over the speed limit.”
For the 1,958 warnings that were administered by USU police officers in 2010, Elder said there were 573 citations given and 108 of those were for speeding.
“In Utah State University’s case, I think they’ve never had equipment like this before,” Tingey said. “They’ve recognized that they’ve had problems on campus and the surrounding area with speeders and people in school zones.”
Elder and Milne both said Tingey has been an excellent advocate for USUPD in the past for getting funding for different department needs.
Tingey said he has helped get money to pay for overtime shifts dedicated to going out and patrolling specifically for people who are drinking and driving. The department has also showed interest in helping with the UHSO’s “Click-It or Ticket” program to increase seatbelt awareness.
“We’re here to provide resources to law enforcement agencies to help them educate the public about traffic safety issues and concerns,” Tingey said. “By doing that we’re hoping to save lives and prevent crashes.”
He said the money the UHSO appropriates throughout the state to various law enforcement agencies is funded through non-earmarked federal dollars. The amount fluctuates from year to year based on need.
Just as the state of Utah is experiencing state-level economic hardships, Tingey said the federal government is also on tough times and he hopes they will continue to aid states in funding law enforcement efforts.
“We purchase this equipment for the sake of the citizens of Utah to help them to realize the importance of buckling up, not drinking and driving and obeying the speed limit,” Tingey said. “A lot of times people think ‘It’ll never happen to me,’ and then when it does they’ve usually done a serious error in their driving.”
– daniel.whitney.smith@aggiemail.usu.edu