I was taking photos in downtown Lafayette on Wedneday, and it seemed like everywhere I looked, there were police vehicles.
And they weren’t just patrolling, either. They were actively pulling people over. I thought maybe they were ramping up their presence for the holidays, but it turns out it was part of something much bigger.
On Wednesday, the Lafayette Police say, they teamed up with their colleagues from other agencies around the 925 and held a “saturation patrol.”
the operation brought extra traffic officers into the city for a focused enforcement push. Working side by side, Lafayette PD and Danville PD officers fanned out across town, watching for violations of the California Vehicle Code.
Their emphasis was on the kinds of everyday driving behaviors that neighbors complain about most:
- Drivers talking or texting on their phones
- Rolling or blowing through stop signs
- Speeding on neighborhood streets and busy arterials
By concentrating officers in a relatively small area at the same time, a saturation patrol makes it feel like there is a police car on every corner — which is exactly the point.
So, how’d it go? Pretty well, a far as the agencies said.
By the end of the day, Lafayette and Danville officers had written over 120 citations for various violations. That is an unusually high number for a single day in a small city, reflecting just how many drivers were stopped during the operation.
In the middle of all those traffic stops, officers also encountered someone with a warrant for assault with a deadly weapon. That person was arrested, showing how a traffic enforcement push can sometimes uncover more serious criminal issues.
This kind of ticket blitz is meant to catch people speeding or otherwise violating the law. But it has another purpose, too. As the Lafayette Police said in a post about the day, the main goals are to cause long term reductions in “the number of drivers speeding through our neighborhoods” and “using their mobile devices while driving.”
If you see tons of officers around town, or maybe hear from a friend about how they got stopped and ticketed, you’re likely to slow down.
