Complacency in the Mundane

If you've done this job more than a day or two, you know it to be true.  Complacency has chiseled more names on that Wall in DC than we like to admit.  And complacency has never been more prevalent than in the mundane jobs that we do every day.  Yep - the job that MotorCops do every day.  We set up in our school zones, on our major thoroughfares, our residential streets, wherever we are told to go, and run LiDAR.  One of our favorite toys on our two wheeled platform.  We love the LiDAR for what it is capable of, how it accurately picks out the speeders, and in school zones even tells us that they were not only speeding, but speeding within the school zone limits with the ability to display distances when they were clocked!  On busy roadways, we have it made when we use LiDAR in lieu of RADAR with the extremely limited divergence of the LiDAR beam.

But when I used to teach RADAR and LiDAR for instructors across my state, I ALWAYS warned my future RADAR Instructors of the BIG DANGER with LiDAR.  

Think about it.  When you're running RADAR, stationary or otherwise, it's easy to let the gun run and still pay attention to your surroundings.  With LiDAR, you have to AIM! You are looking through the gunsight, focusing on getting that reticle on the next violator's front bumper or headlight.   But when you're doing that, whatever is going on around you suddenly disappears!  In my classes during our practical testing, we made it a point to demonstrate how deeply engrossed in that gunsight we get.  In the training class, no problem.  On the streets we work?  Absolutely can be a problem!!  So please - don't get complacent with the mundane.  While running LiDAR, always build in that habit of taking the gun away from your face, checking your six, and staying alert while in uniform!

Ride Safe and Train Often!!

Joe