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Pretty accurate information on the Radar and Laser. Two things to remember are Radar use a radio signal which travels into infinity and the new models have very narrow beam and are difficult to detect at off angles. If you are on a straight road the newer radars can clock and on coming vehicle in moving mode from a mile or more away. This distance is increased if your vehicle is elevated like coming off a ramp or hill. The more traffic usually affects the range at which the speeder can be targeted with radar whether in moving or stationary mode. If the road has a lot of curves your car (radar detector) maybe unable to pickup a radar because the radar may not be pointed any where near your radar detector so you have no advance warning. Typically what happens is Officer comes around curve and meets you and clocks your car before you can react. This is another reason officers will run radar near curves and hills, the positioning inhibits your radar detector from picking up residual radar energy from where a previous vehicle was clocked. Most experienced Radar Laser operators are trained to observe traffic and pick the vehicles traveling above the speed limit then activate the laser or radar to clock a specific vehicle. Believe it or not most experienced traffic officers can estimate the speed of an approaching vehicle to within a couple miles per hour. The operator leaves the radar in standby mode and waits until he spots a speeding vehicle and uses the radar to clock a specific vehicle. Experienced officers can pick a specific vehicles out of heavy traffic while moving the opposite direction make the clock and then stop the clocked vehicle after turning around. This is relatively easy out of a plain/unmarked police car. Newer radars can also clock vehicles traveling in the same direction as the police car either in front or behind the patrol car. This capability is very effective on one way roads or multi lane highways with heavy traffic or median barriers.
Lasers work best from elevated positions with a clear line of sight. The target vehicle can be clocked just as easily while it is approaching a Laser operator or as the vehicle is going away and the officer aims the laser at the rear of the vehicle. Lasers are used by highway patrol a lot where 1 car clocks the violators then has catch cars to pull over the speeding vehicles out of sight of the approaching traffic. This is the same basic principal as when vehicles are clocked by aircraft using lines painted on the pavement or V.A.S.C.A.R.. The pilot/observer clocks the speeding vehicle and then advises a ground unit which car to stop and the speed and time of the violation.
Remember a laser/radar detector will not help you if you get clocked by VASCAR, aircraft or a Laser in the distance divided by time mode. A laser operator may use the laser to measure the distance between two objects like trees or signs along the highway. The operator stores this distance in the laser then parks off the highway where he can observe traffic. The operator uses the laser to time the vehicle between the two stationary objects. This will give the vehicles average speed and is just as accurate as using the lasers invisible light bouncing of the vehicle to get the vehicle speed. This is the same principal used in VASCAR which stands for Vehicle Average Speed Computer And Recorder. VASCAR can be used stationary or moving and emits no signal and is completely passive. With a good operator VASCAR is a very effect speed enforcement tool and is used by a lot of Highway patrols. Radar, Lasers and VASCAR are also used by motorcycle officers.
The way an Officer works traffic depends a lot on the Officers motivation. If you have an Officer who is lazy and is just out to get a number to keep his boss off his back he may not be very aggressive on how they determine which vehicles to stop. Some aggressive Officers use speeding as a way to stop a lot of vehicles in an effort to catch people carrying drugs or to catch drunken or drugged drivers. Some Officers just like working speed since its a challenge and enjoy catching the most flagrant violators. There are maybe 5 to 10 percent of Police Officers their departments just as soon not have for various reasons. Not all people make good police Officers so it doesn't hurt to take this into account if you get stopped. Thirty years ago there were a lot of big men who were Police Officers because they liked to fight and the adrenalin rush. Today Police departments try to hire more educated people and are not as concerned with physical stature race or sex. If you get stopped the Officer is going to try and size you up to figure out what type of person you are. It doesn't hurt for you to realize you got caught by one of the best or you got stopped by someone very inexperienced or not as qualified. Your attitude may or may not get you out of a citation because officers don't have as much discretion as in the past but bitching and abusive behavior is probably more likely to get you cited.
As you probably guessed I instruct radar/laser to police officers and have been a police officer for over 30 years and used most of the devices for traffic enforcement. If the public understands how these devices work it helps people understand how they got caught and not that they were profiled or stopped for some illegitimate reason.
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