The International Falls Police Department is one device closer to cracking down on speeding motorists.
The department’s involvement in the Toward Zero Death campaign were recently recognized by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety with the award of a $1,200 light detection and ranging, or LiDAR, speed gun.
“Awards like this go out to departments that meet certain campaign requirements,” Falls Police Chief Mike Musich said.
The device is unlike radar speed guns which rely on doppler shifts to measure the speed of a vehicle. LiDAR devices utilize the principle of time-of-flight of a laser beam to calculate the speed of the target object. This allows officers to measure the speed of an individual vehicle within a stream of traffic.
Frank Scherf, a TZD liaison, spoke Monday to the International Falls City Council about the Toward Zero Death campaign, which is an approach based on the belief that even one traffic-related death on Minnesota roads is unacceptable.
Scherf explained TZD is a “new and improved” version of the Safe and Sober campaign.
“Deaths continued to climb and we knew some changes needed to be made,” Scherf said.
TZD’s website says the campaign uses a data-driven, interdisciplinary approach that targets areas for improvement and employs proven countermeasures, integrating application of education, enforcement, engineering and emergency medical and trauma services.
“To me, its become a passion,” Scherf said of working with the campaign.
One area of TZD focus is making sure officers are writing tickets, Scherf told the council.
“I know that can be hard in a small town,” he said. “But, the numbers (of written citations) for the International Falls Police Department in the last year were very good. We think as a result of that, a lot of lives were saved.”
Scherf said he works with police departments in 16 counties and International Falls stood out as one to be recognized.
Mayor Bob Anderson thanked Scherf for his efforts and noted the city will have “continued enforcement and continued education.”
