Local police in Pennsylvania could get right to radar guns

Only State Police can use radar now

Pennsylvania is one of only a handful of states that doesn’t allow local police departments to use radar to catch speeders. Only the state police has that authority. But a new proposal in Harrisburg aims to change that.

State representative Matt Bradford from Montgomery County says traffic build-up in his district has made the roads dangerous for children and other pedestrians.

“I have the severe issue with the residential cut-throughs, speeders who use what were always country roads, or residential roads as a way to bypass congestion. In my district its really epidemic.”

Bradford says the methods available to local police to track speeders are not as effective as radar.

Critics say radar can be inaccurate, and abused by local police to generate revenue for small towns, or profile drivers.

But Bradford says his bill would require local police to be accredited in the use of radar, and only 25 percent of the revenue from the ticket would go to the municipality.