Chaajoad, if I am on the interstate doing 75 in a 65, and a cop stops me - I'm like you. I'd like to know that he used radar. (I'd not be doing that, by the way. For that matter, he'd be unlikely to stop me for that, even if he clocked it on radar.) But let's put you behind the wheel of a patrol car and see what you do.
You arive, eastbound, at an intersection where there is a school on your right. As you look, you see a sports car, northbound, burn out a block away and headed your way, past the school. You know, because you've had this patrol for years, that it takes 15 seconds from the crosswalk to the corner where you are, at 20mph - the speed limit. The sports car takes 6 seconds. He probably hit 60, in that block. He took just over a third of the time he should have taken.
But, you were headed the wrong way to get a radar reading. You don't have it. He slowed down, at the corner, when he saw you. Whachagonnado? Gonna let him go?
Or, alternatively, you, a citizen, saw that the cop saw that. One of your kids goes to that school! What do you want him to do?
Here, he can write him "in excess of" 35, and let him go with a ticket. "In excess of 45" woud be a pretty safe number to defend, in my opinion. He could be arrested! The car can, and in that case may, be "inventoried" and towed. A friend might be summoned to get the car home, if the circumstances are right. (If there is something in that car that the guy didn't want "inventoried," he should not exceed the speed limit by an excessive amount.) (An open alcohol container comes to my mind.)
I could see stopping him, a straightforward educational effort, and letting him go, but it's a stretch. He would need a really good attitude during the conversation. Most likely, the stop will reveal more and he will wind up with something more than a speeding ticket. You alluded to that, earlier, in one of your posts, above.
Oh, and cops just about anywhere that I know about often write for a lessor speed than the radar shows. It's a gesture, in hopes that the speeder will ammend his ways, with a smaller fine.
I like the "COPS" program. Most cops I know, personally, like it. A few don't. (Other police shows get my goat!) One needs to remember that the film crew has to film a lot of hours to get one eight minute episode. Most of police work is pretty dull, really. It has to be something one enjoys as the exciting times are few and far between. Even then, most of the action is, really, in helping people out of one kind of trouble or another. Lost - can't find the kid - can't find mommy - fell and bunged up a knee - want to know where the nearest public restroom is - etc.
Ray D ;D
