Los Gatos Cops Get Radar Units

Speeders in town better watch out.

The Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department announced Wednesday that it has four new "laser radar," or LIDAR units to help enforce traffic laws on local roadways.

The department purchased the new equipment with California Office of Traffic Safety funds. The units are aimed at preventing deaths and injuries due to speeding.

LGMSPD traffic officers will be conducting specialized enforcement efforts throughout the next year and the units will help motorists adhere to the speed limit and punish speeders, especially around schools where traffic crashes have been a problem in the past, said a news release.

"Lidar units really are a technological leap from the older traditional radar units used in the past to identify speeders," said Los Gatos-Monte Sereno traffic Sgt. Steve Walpole. "They are a major breakthrough for the law enforcement community because they are now able to pinpoint a particular vehicle in dense traffic and they are unaffected by radar detectors."

The department plans on rolling out the new equipment during the next few weeks after providing patrol officers training on how to use the equipment, the release stated.

In early February, the LGMSPD also announced it had received a $103,000-plus grant from the OTS for traffic enforcement purposes.

The department announced then that patrol officers would work collaboratively with schools and the public on current traffic safety programs targeting school zones such as those provided by the Safe Routes to School and Operation Safe Passage organizations.

Walpole said at the start of the school year that the department and the school districts have a long-standing partnership to ensure 10 high-use intersections are manned by crossing guards.

Walpole has said the four most congested intersections in Los Gatos are near (Daves Avenue at Poppy Lane), (Blossom Hill and Roberts East), (East Main Street at Jackson) and (Nino Avenue at Los Gatos Boulevard).

Los Gatos Patch reader said she wished the OTS money could be used to hire a crossing guard at Shannon Road and Cherry Blossom Lane since she said the intersection is quite dangerous in the mornings with Fisher and Blossom Hill kids using the crossing at peak commute time.