Traffic police


Traffic police or traffic officers, often referred to colloquially as traffic cops, are police officers who direct traffic or serve in a traffic or roads policing unit enforcing rules of the road. Traffic police include officers who patrol major roads and also police who address traffic infractions on other roads. It has been noted that:

History

Traffic police have existed in some form for nearly three centuries:

Automatic traffic police

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo five automatic traffic police are in operation. The large aluminium figures are able to rotate at the waist, and contain closed circuit television cameras to allow them to record offenders, for later apprehension or imposition of fines. The system runs on solar power, from panels on the roof of the structure within which the robot stands. The robot controls the traffic with red and green lights in its hands, and the use of articulated arms. The robots can also speak to pedestrians and help them safely cross the road.
The system is designed and built by a women's engineering co-operative in DRC. Another five robots have been bought for Katanga province, and a further thirty for motorway use have been proposed.

Examples of traffic police departments

In 1998 Stephen Chance and Stephen Dale proposed traffic policing as a model to deal with paperwork.