The long-awaited program STTOP — the Sheriff’s Teen Traffic Offender Program, was finally launched on Thursday…

This program is designed to reduce the traffic accidents and fatalities in the SCV by slowing down and/or stopping reckless drivers. 

Residents who see teenagers driving recklessly can now leave a message by calling a toll-free phone number and reporting the offender’s car and license plate number.  If the driver is a minor, deputies will go to the offender’s house and tell his/her parents. 

The purpose of the program is to deter juveniles from thinking “they own the road” while not actually arresting them.  Similar programs in other cities have shown that often when parents become aware of their teens’ driving habits, the problems are remedied in the home and future intervention by law enforcement is not necessary.

Future plans in the program call for deputies to check into KHTS’s Hometown Morning Show and report offenders, providing yet another means of “getting the word out” and “blacklisting” offenders.

More on this story can by found on the front page of today’s Signal.