This is a letter to the editor written by Pennsylvania State Police Press Secretary, Jack Lewis on December 9, 2004. Poor Jack must have been heart-broken because this was never published. He attempts to discredit Nicole Weisensee-Egan and states that the whole thing is one big incredible conspiracy theory.
Jack Lewis states the following:
In order to accept this incredible conspiracy theory, one must believe all of the following:
- That the manufacturer, Guth Laboratories and the University of Pittsburgh would risk their professional reputations and the future of their agencies by knowingly lying about the results of their tests.
- That Pennsylvania State Troopers would knowingly issue fraudulent speeding citations that would not stand up in court, thus risking their reputations and careers.
- That thousands of police nationwide who use Decatur Genesis handheld radar units are part of a national conspiracy to defraud the public.
Now here’s my take on that.
1) I don’t believe the manufacturer, Guth Labs, or the University of Pittsburgh lied about the results of their tests. Look at the University of Pittsburgh report and you will see it shows there are numerous problems with GHS radar. How can the Pennsylvania State Police use the University of Pittsburgh study to show GHS radar is accurate when the professor conducting the study, Marlin Mickle, stated himself that the tests did not prove the GHS radar guns were accurate? If anything the test shows how inaccurate the guns are with numerous ways to obtain false readings. I believe Guth Labs and the manufacturer, Decatur Electronics, would be risking even more by not lying. What company would want to admit that there is a major problem with a product that generates billions of dollars in revenue for police departments nationwide? If Decatur admitted the problems, nobody would want to purchase or use their products because they don’t work correctly. Instead of admitting the problem, let police departments use the products blindly, knowing that they aren’t accurate, but knowing that they will still generate billions in revenue and John Q. Public won’t be able to contest it anyway. Guth Labs certifies the units regularly and the units are on Pennsylvania’s approved radar listing. Fighting the accuracy of radar is damn near impossible as long as all of the state requirements are met.
2) I don’t know about others, but where I’m from and the courts there, the judges and magistrates will always side with the police. You are basically guilty unless you can prove you are innocent, and even if you can prove you are innocent, the judge/magistrate may still side with the police. That’s how corrupt the court system is. Unless you hire a lawyer, you are pretty much screwed. State troopers know this, magistrates and judges know this, and they all work together to fill their coffers and quotas. I’ve had a state trooper lie in court two separate times and had evidence to show he was lying and it was still his word against mine and his held up. That’s just the way it is, and I don’t think State Police or any police for that matter really care about risking their reputation by giving some guy/girl a ticket that they know they won’t be able to fight anyway.
3) When you are using a faulty device that is on an approved radar list, you are defrauding the public. This isn’t a national conspiracy. This is how police departments make money. I mean when you are making over $26 million a year on speeding tickets alone, I really don’t think police departments care if they are defrauding the public. It’s such a large income stream that as long as the radar is on the approved list, it doesn’t matter if faults come up later on just as long as the public doesn’t know about them.
There truly needs to be an organization, agency or something that will step up – Re-evaluate the guns and all previous studies and have it removed from the approved radar listing in Pennsylvania. To look at the facts of the studies that were conducted, it is ludicrous that these radar units can still be used. The Genesis Handheld Stationary model was replaced with a newer Genesis Handheld Directional model several years ago, however, departments are still allowed to use GHS.