I rarely see a cop near those signs. I know they signal is not being sent to the cops, recorded, or anything. The sign is programmed to flash if I'm exceeding the speed by more than 3mph or something like that. In town the speed limit is 20, and it wont flash at 21 or 22, but I think it starts to flash at 23 or 24 (and up).
Ive seen those same signs used at tractor and truck pulls to record the speed of the puller....