Arkansans and those traveling through the diamond state need to be on the watch. State police are widening what was initially an operation aimed at street racing to just about any traffic infraction they can find. Operation Safe Streets netted the state over 600 arrests during its first weekend in effect.
According to authorities, the action plan has been in the works for about a month and includes roughly 30 state troopers. Locals like myself noted the presence of these officers in somewhat odd positions on the highway over the weekend. Evidently, it’s a county-wide affair.
“We brought in about 30 state troopers to conduct patrols in the Little Rock and Pulaski County area,” said Captain Jeff Sheeler to local news outlet THV11. The 610 arrests made over the weekend include a wide array of various offenses despite the fact police initially created the plan with a focus on stopping street racing.
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“We took four illegal weapons off the streets, we took a pound of methamphetamine off the streets, two and a half pounds of marijuana off the streets, and then we got a stolen car… Drunk driving, we made almost 30 drunk driving arrests in two days.”
“We’ve seen a rise in fatalities, we’ve had a couple of fatalities around the Pulaski County area that were a result of speeding and aggressive behavior,” said Captain Sheeler. “We’re targeting aggressive drivers. We’re targeting speeders, drunk drivers and we’re also targeting people that are engaging in criminal behavior.”
According to the Arkansas State Police, only 55 of the arrests were related to excessive speeds. Nevertheless, officers made contact with 952 violates in total over just two days time. The police claim that they plan to continue the operation into the summer months over concerns for public safety.
It’s the first such initiative in Arkansas in recent memory but other states in the nation have been cracking down on similar crime. Police in Texas made over 100 arrests surrounding the Texas 2K drag racing event, while West Virginian police ticketed over 120 people for speeding in a single day across a five-mile stretch of road.