N.C.P.D. purchased a Kustom Signals portable L.E.D. message board November 2005. This public awareness board is used to convey an immediate message to motorists with rapid deployment. The messages range from traffic issues, checkpoints, city events, and speed awareness assisted with an on-board radar system.

When conducting scheduled enforcement operations, the Traffic Unit uses a digital camcorder whenever possible to document the violations observed. Should a violator contest the citation, the video is available to be presented in court.

All Traffic Unit vehicles are equiped with Audio/Video recording systems which are automatically activated whenever the officer turns on the vehicle emergency lights or manually presses record. This recording system allows incidents such as traffic stops & pursuit driving to be recorded for dcumentation purposes.

This vehicle is currently undergoing major reconfiguration. This page will be updated soon with the changes listed that have been made to this unit.

This trailer is used to transport traffic cones and barracades to any incident requiring traffic control items. This trailer is also used for transporting motorcycles to special events such as Police Motorcycle skills competitions or whenever the Motor Squad is utilized in locations not close nough to ride to.

Several Traffic Unit officers utilize a hand-held window tint meter. These meters are usefull for the enforcement of the legal percentage of tint permitted on vehicle windows.

The Stinger Tire Deflation System is used on vehicles which fail to stop for an officer when signaled. This system will slowly deflate tires bringing the vehicle to a slower more manageable speed.

DUI awareness presentations which educate the public towards the dangers of driving while intoxicated is high on the priority list for our traffic unit. Fatal vision goggles are utilized to demonstrate the effects of impairment to a person who's judgement is not impaired, but due to the goggles, they are effected by way of vision impairment to simulate a range of B.A.C. levels.

The Datamaster (commonly called the breathalyzer) is utilized to obtain a B.A.C. level on a person arrested for D.U.I. of even being drunk in public. This machine is provided by and maintained by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Traffic Unit officers are issued a handheld GPS unit for the purpose of providing accurate collision locations to SCDPS. North Charleston Police recieved 15 of these units from S.C.D.P.S. which were originally purchased through a state grant.

The drag sled is utilized to obtain a coefficient of friction for surfaces which are needed to determine speeds of vehicles involved in collisions. For example: Weight of drag sled= 35 pounds Pull requires= 20 pounds f = Force/Weight or f = 25/35 f = 0.71 This value is placed into a formula to assist the investigating reconstructionist in determining a minimum speed for the vehicle. In this example, a vehicle leaves 80 feet of skid post impact with a determined drag factor of 0.71. The minimum speed loss post impact would be calculated at 41.27 mph