Combining the best elements of civic responsibility and modern technology, St. Joseph has hit upon an idea just offbeat enough to work. The police department wants to give radar guns to volunteers concerned about speeding in the community, specifically in their neighborhoods. It promises to put a greater focus on a problem that has serious consequences.

One need only look at recent history regarding speeding on city streets. A traffic accident at 22nd and Commercial streets last month killed two men. A single-vehicle crash on Mitchell Avenue last October took a life. A Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department deputy died in an accident while chasing a speeder on the Belt Highway in June 2007. Too often, the phrase “excessive speed was a contributing factor” turns up in the official descriptions of these sad incidents.

Chronic speeding usually proves more irritating than tragic on city streets, though the menace remains. The charm of any neighborhood is the children who play there. Can anyone rightly say those children are safer for fast drivers? Nor can anyone argue that the time saved by heavy acceleration outweighs the risks to the public. Homeowners in one part of St. Joseph, fed up with speeders outside their front doors, even proposed for their street a “chicane” and other “traffic-calming” installations. The idea went nowhere, but the frustration seemed well-placed.

Such a frustration spurs this citizen-radar patrol. You can’t imagine people, in the ordinary course of things, wanting to sit in two-member teams and watch avenues for speeders. But the police can only be in so many places at any moment, and the volunteers expand law enforcement’s reach.

The citizen observers would not give traffic tickets. They would merely record drivers exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph and get a license plate number and car description. If the information checks out with police, the car’s owner gets a warning letter. In theory, it should stand as a low-priced and low-maintenance way of getting the word out about problem speeders.

Sure, an argument could arise that such a program lets taxpayer-supported law enforcers off the hook for this problem. The same argument might be made for Neighborhood Watch programs, which bring down crime rates in areas where they function. In another context, the argument could extend to various neighborhood associations, which institute localized improvements without waiting for public dollars to be spent.

We applaud any individuals who want to lend a hand or provide some sponsorship. (Call the police traffic unit at 271-5359 if you’re interested.) But we also extend a wish that, for the community’s sake, drivers would just abide by the posted speed limits.