Delegates from around the province’s transport departments are in Kingston for the annual Ontario Traffic Council conference.
Each year, the event is held in different cities and this year, it’s Kingston’s turn to host. Delegates were in store for a special treat at Market Square, where they got to see Kingston police’s newest gadgets.
It’s not every day that Sgt. Darren Keuhl gets to show it off to such a discerning crowd.
“We’ve pretty much set up an outdoor classroom,” says Keuhl.
The students on Monday were the delegates from the Ontario Traffic Council conference.
Kingston police showed up their new drone that was first launched about two months ago. The new device has already helped the department with two investigations.
Adding to this device was a licence plate scanner on display. The scanner allows police “ghost cars” to automatically run plate information.
Traffic experts from the Ontario Traffic Council were impressed by what they saw at the display.
Nelson Cadete, president of Ontario Traffic Council says Kingston police should “definitely should be recognized as leaders in the province — there are a lot of examples here that can easily be applied and should be applied to a lot of larger municipalities in Ontario.”
“What we’ve done is we’ve harnessed technology to find efficiencies and do more with fewer officers,” says Keuhl.
Delegate Taresa Rose, senior project manager with the Ministry of Transportation says, “I think they did a great job, and they’re really helpful and friendly and they explained everything in detail and I think it’s good for everyone to learn.”
Vice-president of Orange Traffic, Philippe Fugere, was also attending the walking tour with the conference and he says, “It’s a great idea to look around and see where they’re going with all the improvements.”
Kingston police hope these new gadgets will help make their jobs a little easier and the streets a little safer.