MPH Industries: History, Ownership and Products

By I Go Cars · Updated October 29, 2026

MPH Industries at a glance

MPH Industries, Inc. is a manufacturer of police traffic radar, lidar, speed signs and speed trailers, headquartered in Owensboro, Kentucky. It was founded in 1976 and has been owned since 1988 by MPD, Inc., an Owensboro holding company that is 100 percent employee-owned. MPD also owns Kustom Signals, which makes MPH and Kustom sister companies. MPH's radar and lidar models appear on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conforming product list (CPL), the federal list of speed-measuring devices eligible for purchase with federal highway safety grant funds.

This profile states what official records and the company say. It does not rate MPH or its products and draws no comparison with other makers.

Legal name: MPH Industries, Inc.
Founded: 1976 (company statement)
Headquarters: 316 E. 9th Street, Owensboro, Kentucky, per a January 2025 New York State contract award
Parent: MPD, Inc., since 1988
Parent's ownership: employee stock ownership plan since 1997

History, 1976 to the present

MPH summarizes its origin in a single sentence: "Founded in 1976, MPH was one of the first companies to supply traffic radar systems to law enforcement." The phrase "one of the first" is the company's own description. MPH does not state where it was located or who owned it between 1976 and 1988.

The company's history then records a sequence of ownership and expansion events, each dated by MPH itself:

1988: "MPH was purchased by MPD, Inc. and was moved to its current location in Owensboro, Kentucky."
1997: employees of MPH and of MPD's other subsidiaries bought MPD from its stockholders, making MPD "a 100% Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) company." An ESOP is a retirement-plan structure through which employees hold the company's shares.
2012: "MPH also grew into the traffic laser market with the purchase of Laser Atlanta in 2012."
2014: MPD acquired Kustom Signals of Lenexa, Kansas, and kept it as a separate subsidiary, according to POLICE Magazine's report of the deal.
2025: Kustom described itself as "integrating with sister company MPH Industries," with the brands remaining distinct.

Today MPH describes itself this way: "MPH INDUSTRIES is a part of MPD, Inc., headquartered in Owensboro, Kentucky."

The Laser Atlanta purchase is visible in the federal record. The CPL's list of discontinued models includes four lidars under the name "MPH Industries/Laser Atlanta": the Speed Laser B, R, S and T. The CPL also lists a radar called the BEE 36 under a separate maker, Broderick Enforcement, alongside MPH's own BEE 36A. The shared prefix suggests a product lineage, but no official source located confirms one, and this profile does not assert it.

Product lines and what each device is

MPH's police radar page, read in October 2026, and its price list under New York's Office of General Services Award PGB 23348 (contract term January 9, 2025 to August 31, 2027) give the current catalog. The price list itself is undated in the extracted text.

Dash-mounted radar

Dash-mounted radar is a console unit in the patrol car, with one or two antennas, able to measure targets from a parked or moving car. MPH's current dash-mounted models are the BEE III, the Ranger EZ, the Python III, the Python III FS and the Enforcer. On the price list the BEE III comes in K-band or Ka-band with a single or dual antenna; the Python III in K or Ka; the Enforcer in Ka; and the Ranger EZ in K. Motorcycle versions of the BEE III and Ranger are also listed. One option reads "Upgrade Python 3 radar to add fastest vehicle and same direction modes," which appears to correspond to the FS designation; that reading is an interpretation, since FS is not a separate CPL entry.

Handheld radar

The SpeedGun Pro is MPH's handheld radar. It is sold in three versions: "battery, stationary," "dash, moving" and "corded, stationary." The same product can therefore be a handheld or a mounted moving unit depending on configuration.

Lidar

The Sure Shot is MPH's police lidar, a laser speed gun that measures speed by timing pulses of infrared light.

Speed signs, trailers and data

MPH sells Speed Guardian, Crossing Guardian and Speed Monitor F speed signs; Speed Patrol, Speed Monitor 18 and StreetScout trailers; a message trailer; and TrafficSTAT. These display or record speeds for traffic calming and data collection and are not enforcement devices.

MPH on the federal conforming product list

NHTSA's CPL dated September 15, 2025 lists five current-production MPH radars in Part I. The entries match the November 28, 2022 CPL that Georgia's Department of Public Safety posted. Mode "S" is stationary; "M" is moving.

BEE III (K and Ka; S/M), with a patch antenna approved as a substitute for the original K-band antenna
Enforcer (K and Ka; S/M)
Python III (X, K and Ka; S/M), with the PYN antenna approved as a substitute for the original Ka-band antenna
Ranger EZ (K; S/M)
Speed Gun Pro (K; S/M)

The Python III stands out structurally: on the 2022 CPL it is the only current-production radar listed in all three bands, X (10.500-10.550 GHz), K (24.050-24.250 GHz) and Ka (33.4-36.0 GHz). Part II lists one current MPH lidar, the Sure Shot.

The Ranger EZ listing carries a footnote that is often overlooked. It states that "the directional feature was not tested due to the lab equipment not being compatible with the Ranger's radar technology." The listing therefore covers the Ranger EZ's speed measurement but not its directional function.

Part III, models "approved but no longer in production," lists the BEE 36A, the K-band Enforcer, K-15, K-35, K-55, S-80, S-80 MC, Python (Series I), Python Series II, Speed gun, Z-15, Z-25 and Z-35, plus the four Laser Atlanta lidars. The Z-25, a stationary K-band radar, is sometimes described as current; the CPL places it among discontinued models, and it is not on MPH's current product page.

A CPL listing records that a model met NHTSA's specification when first listed. NHTSA states that test results "do not represent product endorsement" and that third-party modifications not approved by the manufacturer void a listing; the patch and PYN antenna substitutions were specifically approved. NHTSA retired the down-the-road radar CPL on November 21, 2025 in favor of an industry program verifying radar against IEEE Std 2450-2019. Whether any MPH model has been verified under that program was not established. The list can be checked on the NHTSA CPL page.

State approvals and the record

Pennsylvania's December 29, 2018 list of approved speed-timing devices included the MPH Ranger EZ, approved for the Pennsylvania State Police in stationary mode only. Pennsylvania law reserves radar to the State Police and automated enforcement; approval for use is set by each state, not by the CPL. MPH also holds New York contract PC70504 under Award PGB 23348, a purchasing arrangement rather than an approval.

No court decision or regulatory action naming MPH Industries was located in the official records reviewed for this profile.

Frequently asked questions

Who owns MPH Industries?

MPD, Inc. of Owensboro, Kentucky, has owned MPH Industries since 1988, when it bought the company and moved it to Owensboro. MPD itself has been 100 percent employee-owned through an employee stock ownership plan since 1997, when employees of its subsidiaries bought out the stockholders, according to MPH.

Are MPH Industries and Kustom Signals related?

Yes. They are sister companies, both subsidiaries of MPD, Inc. MPD bought MPH in 1988 and Kustom Signals in 2014. Neither owns the other, and both are headquartered separately, MPH in Owensboro and Kustom in Lenexa, Kansas. In 2025 Kustom said it was integrating with MPH while keeping the two brands distinct.

Is the MPH Python III still on the NHTSA list?

Yes. The Python III appears in Part I of NHTSA's September 15, 2025 conforming product list in X, K and Ka band, rated for stationary and moving modes. NHTSA retired the down-the-road radar list itself on November 21, 2025, shifting to an IEEE 2450 verification program.

Does MPH Industries make a lidar gun?

Yes. MPH's current police lidar is the Sure Shot, listed in Part II of NHTSA's September 15, 2025 conforming product list. MPH entered the laser market by purchasing Laser Atlanta in 2012, and older Laser Atlanta Speed Laser models appear on the list as no longer in production.

Is the MPH Z-25 still made?

No. NHTSA's conforming product list places the Z-25, a stationary K-band radar, in Part III, which covers models approved but no longer in production. The Z-25 does not appear on MPH's current police radar page, which lists the BEE III, Ranger EZ, Python III, Enforcer and SpeedGun Pro.

Where is MPH Industries located?

MPH Industries is located at 316 E. 9th Street in Owensboro, Kentucky, according to a January 2025 New York State contract award. The company has been in Owensboro since 1988, when MPD, Inc. purchased it. MPH does not state where it was based between its 1976 founding and 1988.

MPH Industries