HARRISBURG — A piece of legislation backed by officials in the City of Bradford which would allow the state’s municipal police departments to use radar as a means of speed enforcement has been introduced in the state Senate.

Senate Bill 1340 was introduced on Monday by state Sen. Randy Vulakovich.   

“Every state but Pennsylvania permits their local police to use radar for monitoring traffic speed. In Pennsylvania, only the state police are authorized to use radar,” said Vulakovich, a former municipal police officer. “We often talk about equipping our officers with the latest and best in technology; however, for some reason Pennsylvania has not yet provided its law enforcement officers with radar technology that has been around since World War II. It is well past time we provide our officers with this speed enforcement mechanism.”  

The legislation, which has been referred to the Senate Transportation Committee, is supported by the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association, the Pennsylvania Municipal League, Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, Pennsylvania Association of Township Commissioners, Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors and Pennsylvania State Mayors Association.

In regards to the legislation, Bradford Mayor Tom Riel said previously that he has visited Harrisburg many times in support of such a policy, calling it common sense.

Meanwhile, city police chief Chris Lucco said the use of radar would be a huge benefit to municipal law enforcement agencies, noting the current system allows for an element of human error when activating a speed timing device such as Vascar or Accutrak, where radar does not.