Can the police use laser guns from inside your car?

You may have seen it before – you are traveling down the interstate and you see a police officer in his car shooting LIDAR out of the driver’s side window. Maybe you’ve even seen an officer pointing through your windshield or through your rear view mirror?

The question is: can law enforcement officials employ LIDAR from inside your car or truck? In shorts, yes!

Police laser, officially called LIDAR is an acronym for Light Detection And Ranging. Among the online community of laser jammers, “laser” may be the most frequently used term, but LIDAR is just as acceptable. Police laser guns can seem complicated and daunting, although with a little basic familiarity with the math along with an example or two, anyone can understand how the strategies work and then defend against them.

In general, police laser guns (LIDARs) calculate speed using infrared light to measure distance a few hundred times (in just a few seconds). The genius of police laser guns, compared to radar guns, is how the laser beam is focused on an extremely small area that it can only focus on one car at a time. Officers would like to be in a position to locate an exact vehicle, and the small beam from the laser gun enables them to do so. Rays of light widen as they travel; they can start as small as a pin as soon as they leave the laser gun. Still, after 1000 feet, the beam is about six feet wide, small enough to focus on a single car.

Many officers executing speed control with LIDAR choose to sit perpendicular to the road and shoot oncoming traffic from the driver’s side window. Why would they do that from inside their car? You can find 3 main reasons:

1. Laser guns are heavy!

Although they may not look like it, a good number of laser pistols have heavy, state-of-the-art guts, which can put pressure on an officer’s hands and arm if they are shooting for a long time. For this reason, some officers will also use a tripod or prop the LIDAR unit on top of their car and point at the vehicles from behind the car.

2. LIDAR guns must be steady

Most people have not used the police laser in the past, so they do not understand how difficult it can be to really focus on a car coming from a considerable distance. To acquire a speed reading, the officer should keep his car or truck pointed for about one second and avoid “sweeping” sideways. Sudden or sweeping movements could give an incorrect speed reading.

3. They are ready to go

The moment a police officer gets a speed reading, he must chase the speeder! If you are already sitting in the car, you will be able to start your car and turn on the red and blue lights. If you’re stopped outside the vehicle, you had to open your car door, get in, and then get out, leading to wasted time and possibly lost ticketing prospect.

As mentioned above, some police officers will fire the laser gun through your windshield and even reflect it in your rear view mirror at oncoming cars. This will actually generate a speed reading, but these methods will likely decrease the functionality of the device and many LIDAR weapons companies generally do not endorse these methods.