KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
A series of traffic enforcement efforts supported by federal grants netted more than a dozen arrests since February, officials reported.
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The Sheriff’s Station’s Traffic Unit conducted 10 separate saturation patrols in the Santa Clarita Valley funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The patrols have been ongoing between the hours of 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. since February 2, and resulted in 145 traffic stops, deputies reported.
More than 80 citations were issued; seven DUI-Alcohol suspects were arrested; two DUI-Drug impaired suspects arrested; two more were arrested and seven drivers were cited for operating a vehicle with a suspended/revoked license.
The traffic safety grant funds supplement additional patrols deputies schedule throughout the year to increase public safety on the roads in a number of areas, according to Sgt. Scott Shoemaker of the station’s Traffic Unit.
Sheriff’s Department officials are bound by the directives in the grant to supply whatever public safety enforcement is called for in the request for funds, Shoemaker added, explaining the increased patrols were funded in addition to the station’s contract, and obligated the department to have deputies working those specific grant-funded patrols focus only on whatever enforcement measures are identified as the priority.
DUI saturation patrols, distracted driving and motorcycle safety — including how motorcycles riders behave, as well as to make sure motorists are driving safely around motorcycles — are just a few of the enforcement priorities identified by the grants.
The emphasis on this year’s grant-funded enforcement efforts has been on saturation patrols versus DUI checkpoints, which have been utilized more frequently in the past.
The federal funds are disbursed to the state, which then apportions the funding to law enforcement agencies throughout California who apply for grants with specific public safety goals.
The enforcement efforts are scheduled to continue throughout the year, with motorcycle safety expected to be one of the upcoming priorities.
Drivers caught driving impaired can expect the impact of a DUI arrest to include jail time, fines, fees, DUI classes, license suspension and other expenses that can exceed $10,000.
Glad to see that! I’m forever spouting off about how this town needs more traffic enforcement!!!!!! So often, it seems folks feel they can get away with anything around here because there’s never any traffic cops enforcing basic rules anywhere except once in awhile through the Swap Meet corridor maybe. I love to see it and you know they could make so much money writing necessary tickets for all the speeding and general mischief that’s going on all the time here, but so often I get a feeling police just don’t care about such issues! Sheriffs appear not to want to bother with such things here. Hit-and-runs are frequent between vehicles and pedestrians as well like never before, but since there’s hardly any police presence, for the most part, it’s easy pickens to get away with whatever these days! It blows my mind the way this town wastes money left and right for un-necessary stuff but never to add more cops on the street! Used to be folks would watch their P’s and Q’s because they knew Santa Clarita had a zero tolerance for any illegal activities and would vigorously patrol and enforce whatever went down, but nowadays, it’s a free-for-all and things are completely reversed! You have the ‘wild west’ days once a year in Newhall, but really it’s like the Wild West every day around here to tell you the truth!!!
Well, it’s a good start, anyway, but still, we gotta long ways to go to get back to the days when people would for the most part obey the law ’cause they knew usually there would be a cop somewhere around watching, and as the SCV grows in population, so does the need for more police, naturally, to keep the peace! I’ve spoken to numerous Sheriffs here, and they seem to agree there needs to be more of a presence, but have their hands tied. Please keep up the traffic enforcement, put more out there to do so! Less people will die and get hurt and the rest of us can feel safer!!! Thank you!