Community cops to get training on speed guns

Community police officers across West Lothian are being trained to use speed guns to tackle the growing complaints about bad drivers in towns and villages across the county.

Speed checks using handheld radar devices are currently used only by police from the force’s Traffic department.

However, traffic officers in West Lothian have been heavily involved in investigating serious motorway accidents, so Police Scotland has decided to roll-out speed gun training to its community constables to enable them to set up impromptu speed traps in towns and villages where the community has identified a problem.

Earlier suggestions that members of the public could also be trained to trap speeders by their registration plates have been dropped.

While some rural community councils had been keen to take part in the scheme, others were critical. A proposal promoted by police last August to train community councillors to set up radar speed traps met with opposition from the Linlithgow and the Fauldhouse local area committees.

Councillor Tom Conn said it wasn’t for the public to do the job of the police and added: “If there’s an issue with speeding in a community, why aren’t Police Scotland, the boys and girls in blue, dealing with it? I think it’s for Police Scotland to do this rather than for members of the community who could face verbal abuse and threats.”

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “Officers engaged with community councils across the region in response to speeding complaints and one proposal was to trial a Community Speedwatch scheme, with local community council members being advised on the use of speed detection equipment, to work in partnership to address the issues of speeding within their communities.

“However, due to the limited interest, this was not taken forward.”

If there’s an issue with speeding, why aren’t Police Scotland dealing with it?