Franklin City Council members on Monday voted to send a letter to state lawmakers in support of a bill that would allow municipal police departments to have access to the same vehicle speed-timing equipment as state police.
The letter outlines several points that explain why the city is in favor of such a law, including statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that document a high number of speeding-related fatalities in Pennsylvania, including fatalities on local roadways.
The measure, Senate Bill 406, was introduced in March. The bill has since been referred to the Senate Transportation Committee.
Franklin police use a device called ENRADD, or electronic non-radar device, but both Mayor Doug Baker and police Chief Kevin Anundson shared problems they have with the device and other methods municipal police are forced to use.
“For me the benefits of radar is that it’s only one operator per machine,” Baker said. “With ENRADD you have the device operator plus the pursuit car.”
ENRADD is a device that sits low to the ground and uses infrared beams to time a vehicle’s speed. The vehicle’s speed is transmitted back to the device’s controller who then will radio the pursuing officer what vehicle to look for.
The stopwatch method is another that is commonly used in the area and normally requires two operators.
An officer will start a stopwatch as a vehicle crosses a line painted on the road and stop it when the vehicle crosses a second line. Calculations are made and a pursuit officer will then pull an offender over.
“Right now (municipal police) are kind of stuck,” said Anundson. “If you use the lines, we’re really hampered by line of sight.”
Anundson also pointed out that radar is cheaper than an ENRADD system and the one Franklin uses is aging.
Baker said supporting a bill that will allow local police to use radar would not be making the city more money as most money from speeding tickets doesn’t go back into a municipality’s coffers.
In other business Monday:
– A contract for $253,060 was awarded to Whalen Contracting Inc. of Franklin for a building facade and window replacement project at the Franklin Professional Building at 150 Prospect Ave. The funds will come from the professional building account.
– Council approved the listing of several properties acquired by the city for bid in an attempt to put them back into the tax roll.
– Council approved a motion for aged vehicles owned by the city that sit in an area known as the “bone yard” to be taken for auction by 422 Auto and Bus Auction of Pittsburgh. The vehicles will be sold at auction later this month.
