By Sharon Woods Harris
THe Pekin Daily Times
PEKIN, Ill. — Pekin Police Chief Tim Gillespie is looking at an option to improve the way officers are allocated to monitor speed complaints.
The Pekin Police Department recently received a SpeedSpy - a piece of equipment that is mounted on a light pole to record the date, time and speed of vehicles passing through a neighborhood.
The equipment comes as a response to people who complain to the traffic safety committee that cars are speeding through their neighborhoods. Once the SpeedSpy has gathered information on traffic patterns in an area, the police can analyze the data and better determine where and at what times of the day to have a squad car run radar on a problem street.
Gillespie said the traffic safety committee has recently heard complaints from residents along Schramm Drive. Gillespie said Schramm Drive has become an alternate route for people who would normally travel Broadway Road. The current road construction on Broadway Road has forced many people to seek alternate routes, he said.
The police department will not have to pay anything for the device. The Pekin Police Foundation, a non-profit group, gets donations from various sources and uses the money to purchase items the police department cannot typically afford, said Gillespie.
The department is currently evaluating the equipment and will make a decision in the next few weeks about keeping it for future use. The police foundation will give one of the devices to the department.
In the past, the police foundation purchased the speed trailer that the police department places along streets to let drivers know if they are speeding. The foundation also purchased emergency lights that are used at night-time accident scenes.
The SpeedSpy does not take a picture of the driver or the license plate of the vehicle.
“This is not for enforcement,” said Gillespie. “This is a way to gather information when complaints come in on traffic problems.”
Copyright 2008 The Pekin Daily Times