BY RYAN O’CONNOR

After placing a stealth radar box on a utility pole on a rarely patrolled town road, Bow police were able to track a local driver consistently speeding at more than 60 mph, at roughly 12:45 a.m.

“Normally we don’t have someone out there, but after seeing the data, the speeder got a personal meet-and-greet with an officer one night,” said officer John MacLennan, who is in charge of a box.

MacLennan explained the box is a simple mechanism that holds information on a digital card similar to that of a camera.

It is secure under a padlock, waterproof  and placed on utility poles under the approval of PSNH and Unitel.

“As with any instrument, it has its good and bad points,” said MacLennan. “It’s good at tracking vehicles and speeds, but the bad side is that it only picks up the first vehicle in a row if they are all going roughly the same speed.”

By moving the box around town, the department studies the data provided and determines where best to place its on-duty officers.

“The part that’s valuable to us is the breakdown into 15-minute time periods that gives us the average number of vehicles and vehicle speeds during that 15-minute increment,” said MacLennan. “After doing this for a few days in different parts of town, we now know we should develop times we should be in certain area.

“Yes, some people slow down when their radar detector reads the box, but that’s also accomplishing the ultimate goal, which is to slow people down,” he continued.

Selectmen are in full support of the initiative.

“In a time of rising costs and expenses, it seems like we’re determining the use of our officers in the best way possible,” said Crisp. “We’re not just blindly placing our resources.”

MacLennan noted the information can also be passed on to the planning board, public works department and other town entities that may be able to use such data.

The box is often placed in areas where residents complain about high speeds.

This, said MacLennan, helps determine if the problems are reality or perception.

Kally Abrams, who initiated the SPEED (Safe Proactive Easy Everyday Driving) campaign in town, is one such resident.

“One of the things I was asked to do with SPEED campaign is to get some data for an analysis, so I asked Chief Jaran when we can put it up in my neighborhood, because I wanted to know if it was perception or if they are really speeding by,” said Abrams.

“What I found is, yes, there are some high speeds from time to time, but the average is below the posted speed limit of 30 mph, so it was a worthwhile experience to see it.”

Chief Jeff Jaran said like Abrams, the box is helping to show Bow officials and residents that estimated speed is often higher than actual speed, which helps put things in perspective.

Still, he said, its benefit is undeniable.

“In essence, what it does is it gives us a better read of what’s going on traffic-wise on some of these roads that we can’t patrol on a regular basis, 24/7, so now we allocate our patrols where they are needed based on where the data says,” said Jaran, who noted that the longer the box is in use, the more valuable it becomes, especially because the inclement weather months tend to slow people down.

“It’s difficult to use at this time of year, but it’s helpful to look at updated information based on the time of year, whether schools are in session or not, and also business traffic hours. Now we can look at the data and compare it to what’s going on at that time of day or year in the community.”