[s-cars] Speeding / Radar question

[Edward]

Couple weeks ago I was driving I-8 east in Cali near the AZ border and got nabbed by cali highway patrol.  I had my trusty radar detector on (older Whistler) and it never went off.  Officer said he was in the oncoming traffic lane driving towards me and radared me out the front of his car, radared me a second time after he went by from the rear of his car.  Then pulled a U turn across the median and radared me a 3rd time from behind me using his front unit.  My radar detector NEVER peeped.  It’s never failed me previously or since.  Is there some new radar out there that they’re using?  I once heard someone mention POP radar, but I thought that wasn’t approved for traffic enforcement.  Do I need to get a new detector?  Or is this cop full of it?  I've had a rough summer ticket-wise, but this radar-detector failure has me concerned!

Also, anyone have any idea how likely it is for said occifer to bother to show up to court?  Or how the Cali system works?  I’m thinking of taking the traffic school option to save the $$ of flying out again, but I could also apparently contest by mail, though I don’t know what I could really say.

Thanks!!

Ed