Columbia Police Department increases traffic enforcement
Officer presence will increase downtown and near campus.
Published Jan. 22, 2010
The Columbia Police Department increased its traffic enforcement this week, partly due to the influx of students returning to campus.
The traffic detail began Tuesday and will continue through Friday evening, focusing on hazardous moving violations, according to a CPD news release. In the release, CPD spokeswoman Jessie Haden said the detail will be between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., but no exact locations will be released.
Haden said CPD is seeing an increase in traffic with classes resuming.
"You can definitely tell that students have gone back to school," she said.
The traffic detail concentrated on all areas on of the city but not on campus, Haden said, since that is the MU Police Department's jurisdiction. Some areas might include busy roads or neighborhoods that have received traffic complaints.
"The downtown area and areas close by campus can definitely be places where we see our officers," Haden said.
Haden also said MUPD will not be assisting in the traffic detail.
The increased enforcement used funds from the Missouri Department of Transportation Division of Highway Safety, the news release stated. Four additional officers will be patrolling each day during the detail.
According to the news release, CPD officers completed 2,875 traffic accident reports in 2009. As a result of those accidents, 1,939 tickets were written for hazardous moving violations.
"Our ultimate goal is just a fantasy at this point," Haden said in the release. "We'd like to do a traffic detail and discovery that every driver is being safe and law abiding, and we end up writing zero tickets. Until that day comes, we will continue to write tickets to drivers committing hazardous moving violations in order to curb their unsafe driving behaviors."
