Longview STEP Report Released

LONGVIEW — The Longview Police Department has released the year-end statistics for the recently concluded Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (S.T.E.P.) that ran from October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011. Off-duty Officers working on the grant program put in a total of 1,142 hours of additional traffic enforcement in the City. During this period Officers issued 3,468 traffic citations and made 78 arrests during the year. The breakdown of citations and arrests were:
*Speeding citations: 2,227
*Adult Seatbelt citations: 597
*Child Seatbelt/Safety Seat citations: 34
*Other citations: 610
*DWI arrests: 32
*Other arrests: 46

In the category of other arrests, S.T.E.P. Officers made on-view arrests for charges including Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Felon, Possession of a Controlled Substance, Minor in Possession of Alcohol and a variety of other misdemeanor charges. Officers also served a total of 98 outstanding arrest warrants.

The Comprehensive Selective Traffic Enforcement Program is funded by a grant awarded to the Police Department by the Texas Department of Transportation, using federal funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The program supplements traffic enforcement efforts of the Department by utilizing off-duty officers, working overtime, to conduct traffic enforcement without the interruption created by other duties that must be handled by on-duty officers. The STEP officers are able to focus solely on traffic enforcement, targeting the offenses of speeding, DWI, and seatbelt and child restraint violations. Although the program focuses on those offenses, all traffic offenses witnessed by the officer are also enforced.