Has anyone else seen those black boxes on both sides of the trunk of a cop car? I saw one today and was wondering what they do. looks like some kind of laser or somthing...

Not sure what you are referring to exactly, but they have a camera system that scans license plates and runs them on a computer that quickly checks each one for being stolen, warrants etc.

Ive seen those too and if were thinking of the same thing they are deffinitaly RADAR or LADAR guns.

Andy is correct. They are license plate scanners.

Barney Fife Wrote:
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> Andy is correct. They are license plate scanners.

So how does that work? Does it scan all the time, in traffic etc, and alert them on a stolen or wanted vehicle? How effective is it?

In DC parking cops would drive by and get all of the vehicles license plate numbers, and then go back later and rescan them for parking violations. For example if it was 2 hour parking they would go back 2 hours later and start giving tickets....

Cheap as hell, yes...smart for them, absolutely

I thought they were all just plate scanners, but my detector picked up a strong KA band from them so some are speed traps.

radarroy Wrote:
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> I thought they were all just plate scanners, but
> my detector picked up a strong KA band from them
> so some are speed traps.

No, they are all just cameras to read plates. Moving radar is completely inside the vehicle.

They were all parked. But maybe they had radar on inside their car? I have seen cops shooting laser, while running K band. It really gives away there position as i easily pick up k band from miles away.

FACT : Moving radar is NOT always completely inside the vehicle.
LONG before they had plate scanners, it was common to see the
highway patrol with window-mounted fixed radar guns sitting
alongside the highways. The dead give away that what the OP saw
were plate scanners, is the fact he said that they were
mounted on the trunk lid.

smartman Wrote:
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> Moving radar is completely inside the vehicle.

Since radiation effect is cumulative I wonder how the microwaves from regular speed-taking radar affects patrol officers' eyes over time. Googling for an answer to this specifically didn't turn up anything interesting w.r.t. long-term low-level exposure (everything was either cancer research or shortterm power-level based research, not long-term). I believe the radars are on for the entire patrol - doing that day after day would generate significant long-term exposure (though, of course, low-power).

They are plate scanners. And it does check for expired plates etc. Also, all the information on who what where and when is/can be uploaded to DHS database where it is/would/could be collected and scanned etc. Big Bro IS watching you.

Don't believe me? You are an idiot. Most of these are purchased by police departments all over the country with a grant from Homeland Security.

The entirety of the above is claptrap and nonsense. Those boxes feed a display in the cruiser that pops up a GPS map when the cruiser comes within range of a donut shop when the camera detects one. The camera is actually pretty good... it can pattern-match the logos of several major donut/pastry chains, and can discern twenty-six typestyles of the word "donut" from a range of up to 1,500 yards.

If it is too warm in the cruiser during summer months, the box is insulated so a small number of donuts can be kept in it for up to two hours.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2011 07:51AM by obligatory.

obligatory Wrote:
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> The entirety of the above is claptrap and
> nonsense. Those boxes feed a display in the
> cruiser that pops up a GPS map when the cruiser
> comes within range of a donut shop when the camera
> detects one. The camera is actually pretty
> good... it can pattern-match the logos of several
> major donut/pastry chains, and can discern
> twenty-six typestyles of the word "donut" from a
> range of up to 1,500 yards.
>
> If it is two warm in the cruiser during summer
> months, the box is insulated so a small number of
> donuts can be kept in it for up to two hours.

Thank you. I stand corrected.

JackdUpFord Wrote:
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> In DC parking cops would drive by and get all of
> the vehicles license plate numbers, and then go
> back later and rescan them for parking violations.
> For example if it was 2 hour parking they would
> go back 2 hours later and start giving
> tickets....
>
> Cheap as hell, yes...smart for them, absolutely
They use one in Alexandria too, though randomly in certain areas. Normally they put chalk on your tire and occasionally they walk down the street and write down plates by hand./(I work construction in Alex.)