If you watched the first episode of Top Gear's season 11, you likely smirked at the lackluster Vauxhalls that the British bobbies have to drive in pursuit of "the baddies". But once in a while the constables in the UK gets something special in their motor-pools, like the Caparo T1, Lotus Exige, Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 and Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. While few officers have actually had the chance to drive any of these epic exotics since they're used purely for demonstration purposes, the latest addition is here to stay: Prodrive has prepared a fleet of Subaru Impreza GB270s especially for the Automatic Number Plate Recognition Team at the Essex Police department.
Not only did Prodrive set up the vehicle for the team, commonly known as "The Intereptors", but the 21 officers that make up their ranks received a day of special instruction on how to get the most out of their new 270hp all-wheel-drive speed machines. As you can see in the press release after the jump, however, "The day was not about driving these cars fast, but understanding how and when to use their capability in a safe way." Way to make something exciting very boring, guv'na.
"Your mobile phone alerts you as you approach speed traps." That's the idea behind Trapster, an innovative service that uses technology, not the age-old flashing headlamps approach, to notify other drivers of a police speed trap. Motorists who come across an enforced speed zone are encouraged to report the location via an application running on their cell phone, PDA, and other types of devices. The notification is then broadcast to other Trapster members who receive audio or text message warnings as they approach the area.
There are four default alerts: police, speed camera, red light camera, and usual hiding place. Each is displayed in a color that alters from green to yellow to red, based on the "confidence" of the trap (more reports on a single trap increase the confidence). In a helpful move, known traps can be viewed on a Google-powered map on the Trapster web site before you leave the house or office and jump behind the wheel.
According to the inventors, Trapster works with any kind of phone. However, it is optimized with devices that support GPS or WiFi. While you'd think law enforcement would oppose the exposure of their speed traps, it hasn't been met with much resistance, as it actually encourages motorists to slow down. Unfortunately, as others point out, it also requires drivers to take their eyes off the road as they fumble to send alerts with their electronic devices.
In a move sure to please more than a few motorists, police in Tulsa, OK are testing new sirens on their patrol cars with a tone low enough to send vibrations through targeted vehicles and their occupants. It sounds strange, but as cars become more isolated from the outside world, it has become increasingly difficult for cops to grab the attention of wayward motorists. Locked in our motorized cocoons, a wailing siren just can't be heard over the din of cell phones, Sponge Bob and iPods.
This new and innovative (and non-sadistic) approach called the Rumbler is designed to blast a deep tone up to 70 yards away to alert drivers through vibrations in their backsides. The Tulsa police have three units in use, with three more expected within the next ten days. Law enforcement officials in Washington DC, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida are also trying the technology. Talk from the officers and the public indicates this apparently harmless approach works pretty well. If put into widespread use, it seems to us that the booty-shaking siren just could become the best part of being pulled over.
Follow the jump for video of the Rumbler in action and hear what the new sound of police sirens may soon be in your city. Thanks for the tip, Screwtape!
South Florida has a motorcycle problem, and lawmakers are introducing legislation to show bikers that they'll go a long way to punish those who break the rules. Stunt riding (including wheelies), excessive speeding, and concealable license plates will get you a 10 year ban on your motorcycle license, mandatory jail time, and an impounded bike. If the punishment sounds like the medieval practice of cutting off the hand of a man for stealing, that's exactly how State Representative Carlos Lopez-Cantera wants it.
Lopez-Cantera witnessed firsthand a variety of incidents during which reckless behavior was on display, including bikers flying down the highway at 120 mph, high speed wheelies, and more. Police officers can't even run plates since bikers will often flip them up to avoid detection, and it's very difficult to catch a motorcycle on the open road with a squad car. We like motorcycles, even though our focus is on cars, and it's disappointing to see that things have apparently gotten so out of hand in South Florida that draconian enforcement policies are being seriously discussed.
For years it seems there was an unwritten code among law enforcement officers stating that you didn't give a shield-wearing brother a speeding ticket unless his offense was really bad. Beyond bad, even. That doesn't appear to be the case in the UK, as the chief constable of South Yorkshire has been cold busted going 90 in a 60 mph zone. Britain's Med Hughes stepped down after the court hearing, but he states that his decision to walk away from his post of top traffic cop had nothing to do with his lead foot. To that we give a hearty, "Right-o, chap." Of course as the chief constable, Mr. Hughes preached stringent speed enforcement. The now-defunct top traffic cop even lobbied for hidden speed cameras, which would keep speeds down while racking up big fine money for the department. If Mr. Hughes feels slighted or embarrassed, we'd like to welcome him to our club. As members, when we get tickets we pay the fine, collect the points, and generally suck it up. We're sure he'll find it all to be very novel.
Many criminals today have tools to evade capture, and now tech companies are doing their best to help law enforcement catch up. License-reading cameras, infrared lights, GPS tracking, enhanced communications, and WMD sensors are just a few of the ways that cops are helping to get criminals, but law-breakers are constantly adapting their methods. Popular Mechanics analyzed all the new technology that is helping the good guys catch the bad guys, and they've come up with a list of the most cop-friendly gadgets. You can check them out after the jump.
As Americans are well aware, angry drivers are a dedicated, relentless, and unpredictable bunch. Angry drivers in Britain, fed up with the scourge of Gatso speed cameras, have destroyed them in all manner of ways. How are the authorities (or rather, capitalism) fighting back? A Dutch company has created a camera it wants to sell in Britain that could actually survive a day on the corner of a Baghdad street, let alone whatever purturbed British motorists can throw at it.
The camera is 13-feet tall, sits on a steel base placed in the ground, has cameras hidden behind strengthened glass, and has a fire-resistant body. It can monitor four lanes of traffic moving in both directions and doesn't use flashes so you don't know when you've been caught. And due to new regulations, it can be painted to blend in with its surroundings. Not only is it practically indestructible, but if it senses a threat via onboard smoke and vibration detectors, it will alert the nearest police station and upload all of its data to a central database so that no scofflaw gets away. Pending Home Office approval in England, it will be one giant leap for law enforcement, and one step closer to Robocop. We can think of only one achilles heel for this indestructible speed camera... a setp ladder and some spray paint.
Note to criminals: if you're planning to be the lead car in a high-speed pursuit, your odds of getting away just got ever so slightly better. Ford Motor Company has decided to conduct a voluntary recall of its Crown Victoria police package Interceptor model (2003 model shown) because of small cracks that could form in the car's steel wheels during high speed pursuits. These cracks could cause "rapid air loss," or what the street folk call a blow-out, effectively allowing the no-goodnicks to get away and obviously putting the officer behind the wheel in a signifcant amount of danger.
About 109,664 examples of the 2003 to 2005 model will be recalled, though it's suspected that a very small percentage of active duty cop cars actually are rolling on defective wheels. Only two crashes have been attributed to the issue and no officers were injured. Nevertheless, Ford has been down the recall road with the Interceptor before, issuing a different wheel recall in 2003, as well as being forced to address potentially faulty gas tanks that could explode after a crash. Neither helped the automaker's relations with this country's law enforcement community, which doesn't bode well for the ancient Interceptor that's now facing stiff competition from the new hotness in police-issue whips, the Dodge Charger.
At the moment this new recall is a voluntary move by Ford, which has already notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of its actions. The recall will be targeted to owners of Interceptors with specific wheels that could be affected, who will be notified and told to visit nearby dealerships where the wheels and spares can be replaced.
If you think vehicle-mounted weapons are cool in video games, wait until you check them out in real life. Observe the HAMMER Remotely-Operated Weapons System for Robotic and Manned Vehicles, which is available for use in both manned and unmanned (remote-controlled) ground vehicles as well as unmanned air combat vehicles. The company says the system, which is comprised of two 12-gauge shotguns mounted on a turret system, is ready for applications such as peacekeeping (oh, the irony), urban warfare and law enforcement right out of the box.
Check out this video of the twin shotguns mounted atop an SUV making short work of some potted plants -- pretty cool/scary stuff depending on your sensibilities. There are certainly some benefits to having firepower on tap you can control accurately yet remotely while safely ensconced inside an armored SUV.
As if we needed another reason not to wind up on the wrong side of the law in Texas, this 700-horsepower Hummer H2 with 28-inch rims clinches it. An unnamed Texas sheriff commissioned GeigerCars based in Europe to build the black-and-white beast. It's powered by a 7.0L supercharged V8 making the aforementioned Texas-sized allotment of 700 horses. You can see that the suspension's been lowered and tightened up to handle the extra power and larger eight-pot stoppers have been installed. The bigger brakes will be put to the test trying to arrest the motion of those one-piece chrome 28-inch rims after they've reached the H2's terminal velocity of 155 electronically-limited miles per hour.
For years it seems there was an unwritten code among law enforcement officers stating that you didn't give a shield-wearing brother a speeding ticket unless his offense was really bad. Beyond bad, even. That doesn't appear to be the case in the UK, as the chief constable of South Yorkshire has been cold busted going 90 in a 60 mph zone. Britain's Med Hughes stepped down after the court hearing, but he states that his decision to walk away from his post of top traffic cop had nothing to do with his lead foot. To that we give a hearty, "Right-o, chap." Of course as the chief constable, Mr. Hughes preached stringent speed enforcement. The now-defunct top traffic cop even lobbied for hidden speed cameras, which would keep speeds down while racking up big fine money for the department. If Mr. Hughes feels slighted or embarrassed, we'd like to welcome him to our club. As members, when we get tickets we pay the fine, collect the points, and generally suck it up. We're sure he'll find it all to be very novel.
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