You're travelling down the road a few miles over the speed limit and out of the corner of your eye you spot a police cruiser parked on the side of the road.
You glance down at your radar detector, its silent, so your first thought is that the officer isn’t doing any traffic enforcement so you’re safe.
But right after you pass you notice that the officer is pulling out from his spot, activated his overhead lights and he is giving chase.
Your first reaction is a bit of anger, questioning why your radar detector didn’t alert you.
Then a few minutes later with the officer standing outside your door he makes matters worse by asking:
So just how is that radar detector working out for you against my new laser gun?
How a Police Laser Gun Works
Before we share with you how a police laser jammer works, first you will need to have a basic understanding how a police laser/lidar gun works and why they are so deadly.
Instead of transmitting a wide beam of microwave radio signal like a police radar gun, a lidar guns transmits an invisible beam of light on the near infrared light spectrum.
The officer is trained to aim at the most reflective parts of your car, which is typically your front license plate or your headlight.
This beam of light is also very narrow, only 18” wide at 500 feet, so unless your detector picked up some of the laser scatter it would have never alerted.
And because the officer is able to obtain an accurate speed reading in less then 250 milliseconds, which is twice as fast of the blink of you eye, you have not had time to react.
How Popular are Police Laser Guns?
Nationwide, police lidar enforcement now accounts for over 25% of all speed enforcement measurement devices used by police.
However in states like Ohio, Florida, Rhode Island police lidar enforcement now accounts for over half of the speed enforcement.
This is partly due to insurance companies like Geico who purchase laser guns directly from the manufactures at a discounted rate and then give them away to police departments around the county.
So you maybe asking yourself, why the heck does my auto insurance company fund the police?
Well they consider it an investment.
When you receive a speeding ticket your insurance company can now jack up your insurance premium for the next 5-years.
This increase averages around $4,500 nationwide.
So now that you have a basic understand as to how a police laser gun works and why your radar detector by itself is ineffective against this technology, we will now share with you how a police laser jamming system works.
How Does a Laser Jammer Work?
The basic concept is simple; a laser jammer detects the incoming laser beam, decodes the signal and transmits its own beam of invisible light back at the officer’s gun making your car invisible.
Can I Mount this Jammer on My Dash?
The most common question I’m asked is “Can I mount this on my dash and move it from vehicle to vehicle?”
The answer is no, and here is why.
Most laser encounters are to the front of the vehicle as you're approaching the officer and the officer is typically targeting your front license plate or one of your headlights.
At 500 feet the beam that strikes your car its only 18” in circumference.
Therefore to be effective the laser jamming heads needs to be installed in the grill area of your car for these types of encounters.
Can They Shoot My Rear?
Yes, nationally 5% of all laser encounters are from the rear, as you’re moving away from the officer.
Because of this you also want rear protection, you will need to install an additional head or two to the rear.
Pulse Repetition Frequency
Jamming a police lidar gun is not as simple as having a brighter light then the officer; you must also be able to match the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of the device to jam it.
PRF is the number of pulses of a repeating signal in a specific time, measured in pulse per second and commonly referred to in our speed counter measurement community as the laser guns pulse rate.
Database Look Up Tables
Blinder, one of the earliest laser jammer manufactures, figured out that by adding a database lookup file to their system that the incoming signal could be decoded and the proper jam sequence transmitted to foil the officers lidar gun.
They patented this system and now license this technology to two other laser jammer companies, Escort and Laser Interceptor.
Variable and Random Plus Rate Laser Guns
As the popularity of laser jamming devices increased the police lidar gun manufactures fought back and began integrating variable random pulse rate algorithm into their system.
Because of this the traditional laser jammer database look-up table was basically worthless, as there was no way for the jammer to identify and transmit the correct jamming code sequence.
The most notable of these new laser guns are manufactured by DragonEye Technology; the DragonEye Speed Lidar, the DragonEye Compact and the DragonEye LidarCam.
In June of 2014 we were able to source two DragonEye compacts for our Laser Jammer shootout.
Escort’s Laser ShifterPro had no effect on either of these two guns, however the Blinder was able to jam both of them.
Unfortunately we discovered a few months after this test that DragonEye had updated their algorithm and the Blinder was unable to jam those in subsequent tests performed by other independent sources.
What About those Passive Laser Scramblers from Rocky Mountain Radar?
The bottom line is that they don’t work!
In fact I’ve been offering a $50,000 reward since 2005 for ANYONE that can show me a Rocky Mountain Radar/Laser scrambler that does work as they advertise.
To date no one, including the owner of RMR Michael Churchman has ever taken me up on my offer.
AntiLaser Priority Laser Jamming System
I dub the AntiLaser Priority Laser Jamming System a jammer with a brain because it uses their own patent pending technology that enables it to use pulse-rate-matching patterns instead of the older database look-up tables.
This enables the AntiLaser (ALP) to jam all laser guns including the Dragon Eye, the Stalker XLR, and LTI’s TrueSpeed SX.
Passive Laser Protection Products
There are several passive laser protection products that you can use that will reduce the reflectability of your vehicle, making it harder for police to capture your speed.
VEiL Stealth Coating: VEiL is a coating that you apply to the most reflective portions of your car such as your headlights, license plate(s), turn signals and chrome area.
In Radar Roy’s testing the VEiL was able to reduce the effectiveness of a police laser gun as much as 70%
Laser Shield: A clear license plate cover that you place over your plate that is able to deflect the incoming police laser beam.
In testing the Laser Shield was also 70% effective in reducing the range of a police laser gun when the gun is targeted at the front plate. Car Bras: Installing a black car bra to the front of your vehicle not only protects it from paint damage, but will also reduce the reflectability of your car to police laser.
Your Comments or Questions
Now at the bottom of this article there is an area where you can post your comments and or questions and I encourage you to do so.
This site is owned and managed by "Radar Roy," a retired police officer and certified traffic radar instructor, who is considered a leading expert in the speed counter measurement industry.
To learn more about Roy, read his radar detector reviews or download his free radar detector eBook click here.
Return Policy
Dash Mounted Radar Detectors, Accessories, Mounting Systems: These products come with our 30-day money back guarantee provided that they are returned in
resalable condition. This requires that all parts, accessories, warranty
cards and packaging are returned.
Installed Products: Any radar detector/laser jammer product that requires installation is exempt from our 30-day return policy if the product is removed from the packaging and/or if the buyer installs
and/or attempts to install the product on a vehicle it becomes a
nonreturnable product.
This exception includes all laser jammers, installed radar detectors, and the Veil Stealth Coating.
This site is owned and managed by "Radar Roy," a retired police officer and certified traffic radar instructor, who is considered a leading expert in the speed counter measurement industry.