Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!ron
From: ron@topaz.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Robocop spotted (Photo radar)
Message-ID: <18154@topaz.rutgers.edu>
Date: 18 Feb 88 16:40:48 GMT
References: <829@silver.bacs.indiana.edu> <1007@neoucom.UUCP>
Organization: The Office of Mismanagement and Bean Counting
Lines: 28

> I lived in Maryland in 1979-80.  Maryland was pretty agressive
> about enforcing speed laws becuase of its proximity to the 
> makers in DC and the gas crisis at the time.

If you'll remember the speed limit prior to 55 in MD was 50.
Mandel had already lowered it a few months before they did
55 nationwide.

> They used to park non-running cruisers on the Balto-Wash parkway
> with dept. store dummies dressed up in cop outfits.  They were
> pretty effective at getting people to toe the line.

Never heard of this one.  The Parkway itself is patrolled by the
National Park Service.  Perhaps this is one of their tricks.

> Maryland also had a semi rig called Mother Goose.  A cop would sit
> in the cab and bounce the radar off the side mirror at the traffic
> coming from behind.  A chase car ahead of the truck would pull out
> and nab "violators".  The truck was parked.

I'd be extremely skeptical about boucing radar off a mirror.  More
likely they just hung it backwards out the window.  Note that the
original use of Mother Goose was to enter truck convoys outside
the state and encourage the entire convey to speed through and then
call out the yellow jackets to pull them over.  For those of you
who were looking for an example of entrapment earlier, this was it.

-Ron