Watch It: Police, Residents Say Speed Gun Seeing Mixed Results

Hopatcong Police Chief John Swanson figured the borough's automated radar guns were working when one disappeared shortly after being displayed.

"One was stolen," he said. "We mounted it on a street sign at eye height. Somebody stole it off a pole."

But now Swanson and some residents agree the gun has seen limited effectiveness. The problem?

"Cars have been slowing down," resident Larry Galante said. "But then you have the cars that see it and just go faster."

Galante has lived on Hopatcong's Brooklyn Mountain Road for three years. A few weeks ago, the automated radar gun was hung on a telephone about 40 yards from his home.

The gun clocks speeds of cars traveling toward East Madison Trail and Brooklyn Mountain Road's incline. Its numbers blink slowly when a vehicle reaches between 25-30 mph. It blinks faster, and a flash akin to a camera's goes off, when they hit speeds 30 mph and above.

Galante, who moved in from Stanhope, said cars that slow down at the gun stay moving slowly. But cars going in the opposite direction are just as big of an issue, he said.

Galante added the street's busiest hours are from 5-10 p.m. He suggested the police put a patrolman on a nearby corner with speed gun.

"If they did that, the town would have a surplus in funds," he said.

Brooklyn Mountain Road residents Joe Leonard and Doug Heybouer agreed with Galante for the most part.

Lenoard has seen a decrease in speeding on the road.

"People used to fly down here," he sad. "But once they hit the bend [where the radar gun hangs], they start to slow down."

Heybouer, whose lived in the home right behind the speed gun for about a decade, said, "It's like a highway. It's Route 80 at night. I'm waiting for someone to crash."

"But it's slowed people down. They just need to keep battery in it."

That's the other problem, Swanson said. The gun's battery tends to run out every few days. It's difficult to recharge, since the gun has had to be placed higher to avoid being stolen.

"We're just trying to discourage speeding," Swanson said. "It stops us from having to sit some place. It's not perfect, but it does give people a heads up to slow down.

"It's just not the best tool because it doesn't record any data. I can't go back say [anything.] It gives me nothing. It's just instant feedback for the observer."

Swanson said the department would have liked to purchase a trailer which records data with on-board hard drives, uses solar energy and can be better secured.

"Its purpose is not to get a photo," he said. "It's to get your attention. You look over at it. Some people do believe they [get a picture]. It's a deterrent."