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Police unveil cardboard cops
Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun Published: Friday, June 06, 2008
A life-size replica of a Vancouver traffic cop pointing a radar gun at oncoming traffic was unveiled Thursday on city streets.
The police force has up to eight replica cops that initially will be deployed on Knight Street to try to reduce speeding and traffic fatalities.
"There may or may not be a police officer behind one of these cut-outs," Vancouver police traffic Staff Sgt. Ralph Pauw said at a news conference.
Police will erect several on poles at the start of their shifts "and will stand behind one, two or all three of them," then take them down at the end of shifts, he said.
The fake officers were relatively inexpensive to make, Pauw said.
"We got the city sign shop to put them together, so it's really only the cost of the plastic," he said, adding the cardboard is covered in rainproof plastic, so any graffiti just wipes off.
The cut-outs were tested on the street for a few hours earlier this week and "a tow-truck driver pulled up and started talking to it," Pauw said.
The cut-outs will initially be deployed along Knight St. because it is one of the worst corridors for traffic fatalities and injuries, he said, adding there were 25 fatalities in Vancouver last year and seven so far this year. Vancouver police have recorded motorists speeding along Knight Street at up to 115 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, he said.
"The average ticketed speed is 84 km/h," Pauw said. "We're just trying anything that works to reduce those numbers."
The cardboard cops are part of a police initiative called Operation Silhouette, which will run for the next six months in various locations around the city.
City engineering staff recorded speeds along problem streets before the operation began and will check in six months to see whether the operation met its goal of reducing speeding. The price of speeding tickets ranges from $138 to $483, depending on how much the driver exceeds the speed limit, police said.
A reporter noted that fake police cars have been used to slow down speeders in Texas and Arizona, but asked if fake cops had been used in another jurisdiction. Pauw said he asked the B.C. Automobile Association that same question. "The only thing they could come up with is that in Europe they had fake intersection light cameras set up," he said.
Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun Published: Friday, June 06, 2008
A life-size replica of a Vancouver traffic cop pointing a radar gun at oncoming traffic was unveiled Thursday on city streets.
The police force has up to eight replica cops that initially will be deployed on Knight Street to try to reduce speeding and traffic fatalities.
"There may or may not be a police officer behind one of these cut-outs," Vancouver police traffic Staff Sgt. Ralph Pauw said at a news conference.
Police will erect several on poles at the start of their shifts "and will stand behind one, two or all three of them," then take them down at the end of shifts, he said.
The fake officers were relatively inexpensive to make, Pauw said.
"We got the city sign shop to put them together, so it's really only the cost of the plastic," he said, adding the cardboard is covered in rainproof plastic, so any graffiti just wipes off.
The cut-outs were tested on the street for a few hours earlier this week and "a tow-truck driver pulled up and started talking to it," Pauw said.
The cut-outs will initially be deployed along Knight St. because it is one of the worst corridors for traffic fatalities and injuries, he said, adding there were 25 fatalities in Vancouver last year and seven so far this year. Vancouver police have recorded motorists speeding along Knight Street at up to 115 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, he said.
"The average ticketed speed is 84 km/h," Pauw said. "We're just trying anything that works to reduce those numbers."
The cardboard cops are part of a police initiative called Operation Silhouette, which will run for the next six months in various locations around the city.
City engineering staff recorded speeds along problem streets before the operation began and will check in six months to see whether the operation met its goal of reducing speeding. The price of speeding tickets ranges from $138 to $483, depending on how much the driver exceeds the speed limit, police said.
A reporter noted that fake police cars have been used to slow down speeders in Texas and Arizona, but asked if fake cops had been used in another jurisdiction. Pauw said he asked the B.C. Automobile Association that same question. "The only thing they could come up with is that in Europe they had fake intersection light cameras set up," he said.
