Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 408 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: MARCH 2016 We don’t need to test these things? There’s a lot of confusion about tuning forks and radar guns C anadian drivers might be ticketed forspeedingbased on false evidence collected by radar speed guns, according to a report from the Canadian Broad- casting Corporation. It’s never a good sign when agencies using the same radar equipment have different testing routines that produce wildly variable results. Radar equipment is com- monly tested for accuracy using tuning forks – the two-pronged metal thing that vibrates when tapped. That’s how speed guns, at least in Canada, are cali- brated. When the fork gets tapped, it supposedly creates a fre- quency that mimics a set speed. The gun should spit out the same speed as the fork. If it doesn’t, manufacturers say the radar unit should be taken out of service and not used because it’s broken. But the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) stopped doing that test more than a decade ago. In Saskatchewan, the CBNC says the Regina Po- lice Service stopped using tuning forks in 2009. The RCMP operating in other parts of the province still require the test at the start of each officer’s shift. As is increasingly the case, the problem is a total lack of uniform standards. “An inconsistent mix of court rulings, manufacturer instructions and police stan- dards appears to dictate whether the test is required,” noted the CBC. Now tickets are getting challenged and it’s a real mess. “I honestly believe that this is a huge fraud,” said Toronto lawyer Dannial Baker, referring to police- issued traffic tickets based on devices not tested with a tuning fork. “I think a lot of people got convicted when they shouldn’t have been con- victed.” The Ontario Provincial Police dropped the tuning- fork test for radar devices more than a decade ago, in part over doubts about its necessity. John McNall, a former OPP speed-management co-ordinator, said he asked the U.S. radar manufacturer Decatur Electronics to take the test out of its operating manuals in 2004. He was worried that officers were “fudging their evidence” by testifying under oath that they had correctly used tun- ing forks when, in fact, they often didn’t do the test, mis- understood it, or couldn’t find the forks, he said. “The officer would give evidence that he tested it in accordance with manu- facturer’s instructions and technically would be per- juring himself,” McNall told CBC News. But OPP spokesperson Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said the department was given “support from the manufacturers that indicate the testing procedure” is no longer required. I n Florida, seven deputy recruits at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office have been fired for cheating on exams, and a trainer who helped them has resigned. The investigation began after supervisors suspect- ed the recruits may have cheated because of similar answers that sounded “too mechanical,” says Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. “People who are cheats and liars do not have a place at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office,” Gualtieri said. Recruits got copies of the test ahead of time, according to an article in the Tampa Bay Times. All of those who got the test in advance got scores of either 98 or 100 percent, the sheriff said. Gualtieri said everything about the situation was “de- ceitful” and “deliberate” and “clandestine.” He talked about how the recruits met in restaurants and garages. They even used group emails to share the informa- tion. The kicker is the fact that the average score on the test without cheating is in the low 90s. “In the big scheme of things, it’s not a difficult test,” Gualtieri told reporters during a press conference. “It just shows their lack of moral compass, their lack of ethics, their lack of a sense of right and wrong.” Sheriff heartbroken after scandal leads to terminations of recruits and a trainer t
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