Name/Title
Sussex Police LTI 2020 laser speed gun c2000Entry/Object ID
2490Description
Grey metal cased hand held laser speed detection gun connected by wire to a battery pack held in a leather case with a nylon webbing shoulder strap. The case of the device is marked "LTI 2020", and on a yellow and black label "Class 1 Laser Products". Another label is marked "Supplied by Tele Traffic (UK) Limited', complete with contact details. The rear is marked "Laser Technology Inc" and has a number of buttons including a power switch, as well as a readout screen. The unit fits into a rigid padded nylon bag also marked "Tele Traffic UK".Use
For a police officer to measure the speed of a motor vehicle at the roadsideContext
The police in Sussex have been using radar equipment to detect speeding since the late 1960s, when traffic officers were using large roadside radar boxed devices called PETA. Prior to that speeding both in Sussex and nationally was mainly detected by timing offending vehicles over a set distance and then using tables to calculate their speed. Also officers would attempt match the speed of vehicles by following them and using their own calibrated speedometers to see how fast they were travelling.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s speed detection devices became smaller and more sophisticated, and a variety were in use within Sussex, including radar operated ones.
In 1989 an American company Laser Technology Inc. developed the first laser operated speed detection device using what is known as LIDAR technology. These were developed into handheld devices and the LTI2020 as seen here was first approved for use by police in the UK in 1993. Over time laser speed guns began to replace radar ones within the UK police and were in widespread use in Sussex and nationally by 2000. Such equipment in Sussex has traditionally only been available to specialist traffic officers, but in more recent years their use has extended to Neighbourhood Policing Teams, in an effort to target anti social driving. In order to be used for evidential purposes at court, devices such as this had to be regularly re calibrated to ensure that they were operating within proper tolerances.
This particular unit is equipped with a rechargeable power pack and is of a type that was used in Sussex throughout the 1990s and 2000s, until they were replaced by smaller units. Rather than being scrapped, they were passed onto Neighbourhood Policing Units and subsequently to civilian volunteer Community Speed Watch groups. The Speed Watch groups work only results in advisory letters being sent to offending drivers, so there is little need for them to be issued with calibrated equipment, and in recent years they have been using far smaller uncalibrated devices, consequently the larger units such as this have been recalled and are no longer in use.