A city in California’s Bay Area has finally added a single traffic enforcement officer. That’s right, until recently, nobody was focusing on traffic enforcement and it’s all thanks to allegedly racist and homophobic text messages being sent by former members of the force.
Ford F-150 police chase is a double hitter.
With almost half of Antioch Police put on leave after the text message controversy broke, the city hasn’t been able to fill positions quickly at all. We’re sure there are plenty of applicants waiting to sign up for a department that’s been under federal and state investigation, because everyone loves being micromanaged.
But a recent report from CBS News Bay Area highlights the one sergeant who’s now assigned to traffic enforcement, the first of his kind in about a year and a half. For the past year-plus, people could speed and violate traffic rules with little fear.
Sure, a cop doing something else might pull over the most egregious offenders, but when they’re not running traffic, police officers are surprisingly forgiving of little violations. Usually.
If you drive through Antioch and have gotten used to getting lax about your speed and such, know there’s one man who might ruin your day.
But that’s not all he’s doing. He’s also investigating serious crashes and working to recover stolen cars, openly admitting there’s a huge problem with the latter in Antioch. Who would’ve thought not having police around would lead to more crime?
Another thing this one man waging a traffic enforcement war is focusing on is busting street takeovers. Like other Bay Area cities, Antioch has seen its fair share of the rowdy, illegal gatherings.
We hope this sergeant is able to get more people on the traffic enforcement team and really go to town cleaning things up. The problems which have spun out of control as the police force atrophied dramatically just goes to show we need good cops like him.
Image via KPIX CBS News Bay Area/YouTube
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