The Pinecrest Police Department acquired a pair of new radar trailers and gave the task of naming the units to future drivers attending Pinecrest and Palmetto Elementary Schools.

Pictured above are Pinecrest Elementary School fifth graders with (left to right) officers Jose Rodriguez, Robert Laricci and Teacher James Johnson

Police officials created a name-the-radar unit contest for fifth graders at both schools. Students worked as teams to come up with a suitable name for the trailers.

Pictured above are Palmetto Elementary School fifth graders with (left to right) principal Frank Pistella, teacher Lauren Gach, Police Officer Pablo Rodriguez and Assistant Principal Gladys Fernandez

Pinecrest Elementary youngsters from Lauren Gach's class came up with the acronym R.E.S.P.O.N.D., while youngsters in James Johnson's Palmetto Elementary class agreed on the name Taz.

Pictured above is the Pinecrest Police Department's radar trailer.

In Gach's class, naming the new traffic radar gave her students a chance to learn what teamwork is all about.

"They worked in groups to come up with acronyms that had something to do with the central concept of the speed tracking machine," said Gach. "And then we started putting together the ideas. As they were presenting their ideas, I was putting them on the board. We came up with R.E.S.P.O.N.D. It was truly a collaborative effort."

And, R.E.S.P.O.N.D. has a very accurate and explanatory definition.  "It stands for Radar Engaged Speed Patrol On Never Ending Duty," explained fifth grader Katie Hauser.

Meantime, students at Palmetto Elementary focused on choosing a fun name to characterize the radar unit. According to Johnson, the winning name "Taz" is short for the famous cartoon character the Tasmanian Devil.

Police officers Jose Rodriguez and Robert Laricci said "Taz" was the best entry received from the school and they thought it appropriate for the radar trailer.

Meantime, officer Pablo Rodriguez added that the radar trailer is a traffic device that has many uses and is very beneficial to the community.

"There are two different modes of running the trailer," he said. "There is a little computer in it called the brain and it will record how many vehicles come by, the speed and the time. You can actually run a survey with the brain to determine if there is a speeding problem at a particular location. Or, you can program it to simply alert drivers to their speed by displaying it on the external screen."

Rodriguez says the new radar units are part of the community. He added that allowing the students to name the equipment was an opportunity to get them involved with the police department.