NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — In recent weeks, the New Orleans Police Department Traffic Division has written over 1,000 citations as a result of a new effort that the department believes will make the streets safer.
WGNO’s LBJ spoke to the commander about the process.
“This is called directed enforcement. A directed enforcement is when we come out based on citizen’s complaints and we address those issues in that particular area,” said Traffic Division Commander Lieutenant Avery Theard.
Theard says the increased stops started almost four weeks ago. He adds that officers are now targeting speeders headed down the Robertson Street overpass in the Upper Ninth Ward.
“Last year, we had 65 fatal crashes in the City of New Orleans and speeding was a factor in just about all of them,” said Theard.
While speeding could be why you were pulled over, Theard says you could also be ticketed for any number of violations.
“We advise everyone to have a valid driver’s license, vehicle registration and insurance. If you have an out-of-date inspection sticker or license plate, we will cite you for those as well,” said Theard.
No one wants to get stopped, and one driver told WGNO that they disagreed with the practice.
“We’re facing a lot of difficulties now, post-pandemic and I don’t think it’s a good time for the city to be doing this,” said New Orleans motorist.
The NOPD counters that the effort is about public safety and while you may not have seen as many stops recently, they always occurred but in smaller numbers.
“Actually, we have. We have been out there for the past several years. It’s just that now we have increased our manpower within the traffic division. The superintendent has added five additional officers to the traffic division to address some of the issues that the citizens are complaining about in our community,” said Theard.
The stops are happening throughout the city and the department has ordered an additional 25 radar guns to be distributed to teh districts, so more stops are coming.
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