Christopher J. Buckley

Steve Farrell of EMAP’s motorcyclenews leads with a story concerning the use of speed-enforcement equipment; equipment that I have blogged about as recently as yesterday, concerning issues associated with a popular laser enforcement device: the LTI 20:20. MCN notes that they are unaware whether or not the 20:20 is affected, but just in case, here is a list of all approved Home Office devices that South-Kent will now no doubt be investigating.

• Tele-Traffic (UK) LtdThe LTI 20.20. TS/M
• The Kustom ProLaser II
• The LTI 20.20. TS/M “Speedscope”
• Riegl LR90-235/P
• Cleartone Stealth Speedlaser
• Unipar Urban Speed ace
• LTI 20.20 UltraLyte 100 November 1993
• Jenoptik LaserPatrol
• Riegl FG21-P
• Leica XV2 SpeedLaser

Here’s a copy of the memo:

Personally, I very much doubt this case concerns the use of laser enforcement devices - but rather whether the device used was correctly calibrated and/or certified to ACPO Guidelines. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out this case has simply discovered that the device being used had not been calibrated within its approved time, hence the temporary cessation of enforcement using speed-guns, allowing the police force to have the devices re-calibrated and certified for speed-enforcement.

Also: MCN, please put a little more effort into the running of their (outsourced) website. Every other page 404’s or gives an internal IIS error that the link clicked is wrong. Surely they are aware of these problems? Why are they not fixing them?

EDITORS NOTE: The authenticity of the ‘leaked memo’ can, at this time, not be guaranteed.
UPDATE: The authenticity of the e-mail has been confirmed by Inspector Geoff Wood, Kent Police. As blogged yesterday, the ‘technical’ issue resolves around the calibration of a device used in speed-enforcement. The next step is to find the serial number of the device(s) in question and for all motorists who have either accepted a FPN been convicted of speeding by way of this device, to appeal their conviction.