Cape PD utilizing new solar-powered speed monitor

The Cape Girardeau Police Department has been taking advantage of its new solar-powered Stalker Speed Awareness Monitor (SAM).

According to Sgt. Joey Hann, the department’s traffic division acquired the new monitor at the beginning of the year to help with excessive speeding issues in the city. Sgt. Keith Green had applied for a grant for the Stalker SAM through the Missouri Safety Center, and 100% of the funds required to purchase the item were acquired.

“Our department is very excited that we were able to secure a resource like this at no cost to the public,” Hann said. “It is the goal of our department to make our streets and roadways as safe as possible, and this is just another tool we can use to accomplish that goal.”

The Stalker SAM can run without an additional power source for up to 18 days because of its deep-cycle charge battery and solar-controlled LED lamp matrix. It captures and analyzes each vehicle that drives within its range, and compiles a range of data from passing vehicles. Officers can use the data to determine how commonly excessive speeding incidents occur, as well as what time of day or night drivers frequently speed. Although the Stalker SAM does collect data, Hann said it doesn’t collect personal information.

“It is important for the public to understand that we do not track any personal information upon our drivers,” Hann said. “This unit does not have video or audio and it does not record or register license plates. Our department has no intentions of utilizing this radar to issue summons to our community after the fact.

“The purpose of this unit is to educate the motorists of their current speed in relation to the legal speed that is posted below their own. We hope this serves as a wake-up call to some drivers who use these same roadways repeatedly, that they may, in fact, be speeding and their complacency or inattention could result in an accident where they are injured or they injure someone else.”

Hann provided an analysis report showing speeds taken by the Stalker SAM in a 24-hour period on a weekday near the intersection of Broadway and Fountain Street. According to the data, a majority, 67.1%, of the vehicles that drove through the area were below the speed limit, 28.8% were driving moderately above the speed limit and only 4.1% were excessively speeding. According to Hann, the police department has set the device to record vehicles driving more than 5 miles per hour over the limit as moderate speeding, and vehicles traveling more than 10 miles per hour over as excessive speeding.

This pie chart shows data collected from the Cape Girardeau Police Department’s new Stalker Speed Awareness Monitor over a 24-hour period at the intersection of Broadway and Fountain Street. Submitted