The east Charlotte residents said they were trying to help police crack down on drivers speeding through their community.
CHARLOTTE -- At least two east Charlotte residents are worried they could face fines after their neighborhood committee instituted a program to help police crack down on speeding drivers by using their own radar guns.
James Roberts, executive director of Windsor Park Neighbors, said the committee purchased the radar guns in 2005 after neighbors felt the speeding was getting out of control. Since then Roberts has clocked people traveling up to 62 mph through the community; the speed limit is 25 mph.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers even trained some of the residents how to properly use the radar guns.
"They asked us to log the speeds and report to them on a weekly basis," Roberts said.
CMPD Capt. Mike Smathers said in February of this year, the department wrote a letter to the FCC asking whether the neighbors needed a license to operate the guns.
"It took [the FCC] approximately eight months to send a response and they had generated a complaint instead of just providing a simple answer to that question which is what led to where we are today," Smathers said, adding police didn't intend to imply the neighbors were doing anything wrong.
But Roberts said he's still unhappy with the CMPD's handling of the situation and planned to attend Monday's City Council meeting to voice his displeasure.
"I don't quite understand why they would offer to train us, buy us signs, encourage us to report to them on a weekly basis and then report us to the FCC," Roberts said.
Roberts said he's now concerned he and his neighbor, Vincent Frisina, could face up to a $10,000 FCC fine.
"I've never touched a radar gun," Frisina said. I didn't even know until recently that they needed to be calibrated."
Smathers said the CMPD is working with the FCC to end the ordeal. He said the agency notified him the residents didn't need a license to use the radar guns.