SHOREWOOD - The Village of Shorewood has new equipment to combat speeding - radar speed display boxes. They use the same concept most people have already seen - measuring a driver's speed and displaying it on a lighted sign.

However, the Shorewood equipment is unique because it is mounted on a light pole and can be used on neighborhood streets.

"Your automatic reaction is to kind of hit the brake and slow down a little bit, so that is effective that way," said Sgt. John Walls.

Even if the sign is turned off and not flashing, the units have an additional feature to record how fast cars are going. Police can download data to determine when and how often drivers exceed the speed limit.

That helps them respond to citizen complaints about speeding to verify or refute a citizen's claims about speeding in their area. "We can actually put one of these up here and they actually can monitor the speed," said Sgt. Walls.

If the box finds frequent speeding, the Shorewood Police Department said it can then assign an officer to monitor the area and write tickets. 

One of the boxes is installed in front of Claudia Torres' home because her husband complained to police about speeding along Capitol Drive. Torres is happy because she said the box has already helped slow traffic. "The cars brake once they notice they're going fast, so it's been working," she said.

Torres said she worries about how fast cars drive on Capitol Dr. because they have two small children. 

The company that makes the boxes, All Traffic Solutions, said the boxes are also in use in Jackson and Franklin. The solar-powered units cost several thousand dollars, depending on what features a police department wants to have installed.