The La Porte Police Department recently finished its last Operation Pull Over funded patrols, centered on aggressive and dangerous driving, of Federal Fiscal Year 2016. The 2016 federal fiscal year ran from October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2016. During the recent patrols, officers worked 24.7 hours of overtime, including 16.2 hours during evening hours (6:00 P.M. – 6:00 A.M). Evening hours are an important focus as in 2015 alone, 39 percent of all alcohol-impaired collisions occurred between the hours of 11:00 P.M. and 4:00 A.M.
During these patrols officers wrote 40 citations and 37 warnings. Among the citations were nine for disregarding a traffic signal/sign; eight for driving while suspended or other driver’s license violations; seven for seat belt violations; five for speeding; and two for texting while driving. The remaining citations were for a variety of other driving violations.
In total, for Federal Fiscal Year 2016, officers dedicated 249.5 hours to seat belt patrols; 156.50 to impaired driving patrols, and 295.95 hours to aggressive and dangerous driving patrols. These 701.95 hours were funded by our Operation Pull Over grant and constituted extra patrol hours that officers were out on the streets working on traffic safety and protecting the citizens of La Porte. During these extra patrols, officers wrote 927 citations and 1,156 warnings, as well as made a number of criminal arrests.
“We highly value our partnership with the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and the positive impact that Operation Pull Over has on traffic safety in our community,” said Captain Tom Heath.
Operation Pull Over is a traffic safety grant program that focuses on passenger restraint, impaired driving, and aggressive and dangerous driving enforcement. Operation Pull Over is supported by funding from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, and administered by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. To learn more about Operation Pull Over as well as the other programs and services carried out by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, please visit http://www.in.gov/cji.