Milwaukee County Sheriff (MCSO) speed traps

[OpSec]

I hate money making ploys like this, even though I'm on their side of the fence professionally. Instead of always being on the road everywhere as a visible deterrant ready for calls, they decided to hammer a 1 mile piece of highway for a few hours at a time. For those who didn't see this in the Urinal/Sentinal:

http://www.jsonline.com/traffic/news/dec05/378650.asp

Caption:

Sheriff’s Deputy Brent Smoot monitors traffic from the Florist Ave. bridge over Highway 45. Smoot uses a walkie-talkie with a quarter-mile range to summon another squad car after he locks in on a speeder. Deputies avoid using their regular radio bands so drivers with police scanners don’t catch on.

My guess: FRS radios or they are using channel A4, which is a car-to-car simplex freq, or possible one of the "special events" talkgroups. Either way, they aren't using Patrol 1 or 3 when doing these. I didn't have my 800 radio with me when I stumbled over one of these wolf packs, so I couldn't confirm if it was A4.

You'll also note the old 1996ish unmarked Crown Vic that the deputy is using to run laser with...spy the red/blue FS Firebeam on the dash behind the MW520 computer in the picture. It also appears he is parked illegally on the wrong side of the street. So much for legalities, huh?

 

[GTO_04]

I hate money making ploys like this, even though I'm on their side of the fence professionally. Instead of always being on the road everywhere as a visible deterrant ready for calls, they decided to hammer a 1 mile piece of highway for a few hours at a time. For those who didn't see this in the Urinal/Sentinal:

http://www.jsonline.com/traffic/news/dec05/378650.asp

Caption:

Sheriff’s Deputy Brent Smoot monitors traffic from the Florist Ave. bridge over Highway 45. Smoot uses a walkie-talkie with a quarter-mile range to summon another squad car after he locks in on a speeder. Deputies avoid using their regular radio bands so drivers with police scanners don’t catch on.

My guess: FRS radios or they are using channel A4, which is a car-to-car simplex freq, or possible one of the "special events" talkgroups. Either way, they aren't using Patrol 1 or 3 when doing these. I didn't have my 800 radio with me when I stumbled over one of these wolf packs, so I couldn't confirm if it was A4.

You'll also note the old 1996ish unmarked Crown Vic that the deputy is using to run laser with...spy the red/blue FS Firebeam on the dash behind the MW520 computer in the picture. It also appears he is parked illegally on the wrong side of the street. So much for legalities, huh?

I agree 100%. Looks like CB and the flashing of headlights are the best countermeasures here. Such a small percentage of drivers have scanners I am surprised they bother with the walkie talkies.

When they're actually making the traffic stops, wouldn't they be using the regular channels? A lot of stops in a small area would tip me off that some type of traffic enforcement is going on.

GTO_04

 

[mkescan]

They always use B2 Countywide 1 (20816) for this,I will bet my old 2067 that for some reason they were using (A4) 867.850 PL 136.5 when the reporter was with them. They would really have to be crazy if they used FRS,especially if they didn't want anybody to hear,I noticed a week after that story they were using B2

 

[OpSec]

As an add-on...MCSO is out on the freeway with a dark blue 2000ish Camaro Z28, loaded with LED's and other blinkies. I've seen it a few times and have yet to see any antennas on it.

It's a sleeper. Our unmarked cars are loaded with antennae and stick out from 1/4 mile away...this camaro is very stealthy.

 

[RevGary]

Green Bay PD is now using two blue 2002 Pontiac Gran Am's confiscated in two drug raids.

 

[GTO_04]

As an add-on...MCSO is out on the freeway with a dark blue 2000ish Camaro Z28, loaded with LED's and other blinkies. I've seen it a few times and have yet to see any antennas on it.

It's a sleeper. Our unmarked cars are loaded with antennae and stick out from 1/4 mile away...this camaro is very stealthy.

Does the state use any other unmarked cars besides Crown Vics? I know they used Mustangs (and maybe Camaros) a long time ago.

GTO_04

 

[RevGary]

District 3 has (had) at least ONE dark blue unmarked Chev Suburban assigned to the Motor Carrier Division as of mid February. Not out on the road enough these days to see any other styles. Perhaps forum members from each district can help out with this.

 

[OpSec]

Does the state use any other unmarked cars besides Crown Vics? I know they used Mustangs (and maybe Camaros) a long time ago.

GTO_04

Unmarked CVPI's and Impala's of various factory colors for supervisors (Sgt. and above) and each troop gets one unmarked which usually goes to the court officer. There are marked and unmarked dark blue Tahoe's that were given to the motor carrier inspectors, which are loaded with a weird mix of halogen, strobe and LED lights. We also have a bunch of non-enforcement blue Tahoe's and Suburban's for radio techs, etc.

Like I said above, they are "unmarked" technically with no stripe or door shield but they are clearly enforcement vehicles that are equiped the same as marked CVPI's. Our cars usually have no less than 4 antennas for most, and some have upwards of 7 or 8 antennas. We use VHF-Hi for voice (1 ant.) and data (2 ants.), plus the vehicle repeater (1 ant.) and CB (1 ant.). Some cars have other county/muni radios plus the supervisor and recon trooper cars have cell phone kits w/glass mount antennas.

The umarked cars are being equipped with Whelen Talon LED's, and the marked units are still sporting halogen flashers in "clean-top" cars and FedSig JetStrobe lightbars on fully marked cars. Apparently this will change with the next fleet cycle and all umarked and clean-top cars are getting Talon LED's. We are also starting to buy FedSig LED lightbars in small quanities.

No B4C Camaro's or SSP Mustang's since the early 90's...no money for them, and I don't think the last couple sets of command staff have been for them anyway. Even when we had them, the vast majority (if not all of them) were marked clean-top cars. I'd love to see a new '05+ Mustang GT, but I doubt it will happen. On a bright side, we are tenatively getting a few Chargers for evaluation if the next fleet request is approved.

 

[cpd38]

As of last spring, there still were some Ford Expeditions that Inspectors used. I know that for sure since I had to use one at the WSP Trooper inservice for EVOC. I was paired up with an inspector that worked way up in Iron County and that area. Nothing like driving a big beast of a truck loaded down with stuff like scales though the serpetine.....

 

[OpSec]

That Expedition was one of the last ones, since they went in-service back in 1998-2000. There were a couple in my region, but I think they finally got enough miles on them to be replaced over the winter.

The new Tahoe's supposedly have better storage then those wood racks that the Exp's did...I can't imagine EVOC was very fun in that truck.

 

[GTO_04]

Those Talon LEDs are amazingly bright! LEDs are becoming very popular in Indiana. Seveal ISP slick (clean) tops have them. LED light bars are very common now on city and county cars.

The Charger will no doubt cut into Ford's market share. Will the Chargers have the Hemi or the V6? Too bad GM doesn't have something like the Commodore available in the US. It's a 4 door version of the GTO (400HP) and looks like a Buick Regal. It is very popular with law enforcement agencies in Australia.

Also, I think it's a wise choice to stay with VHF-Hi. Inidana went to an 800 MHz digital system and they found out that they had to add a lot more towers than they expected to get adequate coverage.

GTO_04

 

[cschmit]

They always use B2 Countywide 1 (20816) for this,I will bet my old 2067 that for some reason they were using (A4) 867.850 PL 136.5 when the reporter was with them. They would really have to be crazy if they used FRS,especially if they didn't want anybody to hear,I noticed a week after that story they were using B2

Do you happen to know the Trunk ID for A4? I have every one but that one.

 

[SCPD]

It's a simplex frequency, 867.850. It is not part of their trunking system.

 

[cschmit]

It's a simplex frequency, 867.850. It is not part of their trunking system.

Oh I thought it was part of the Trunking since it is one of the freq. listed for the trunking. Thanks for the info, I will add it to my scanner.

 

[OpSec]

As an add-on...MCSO is out on the freeway with a dark blue 2000ish Camaro Z28, loaded with LED's and other blinkies. I've seen it a few times and have yet to see any antennas on it.

It's a sleeper. Our unmarked cars are loaded with antennae and stick out from 1/4 mile away...this camaro is very stealthy.

Just an FYI...

The Camaro was totalled a couple months ago by a deputy that didn't have permission to drive it. Whoops.

 

[JT-112]

Awwww..... sniff.

Not really - lol. I don't like revenue collection activities much, there's more to be done than nab folks going with the traffic flow.

Hey Stateboy, I see you post on CHP topics from time to time as well, any connection you care to share? I travel to Sacramento quite a bit and pass by the CHP academy each time...