St. Tammany deputies to resume crackdown on speeders Wednesday

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September 22, 2009, 2:59PM

A St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office crackdown on speeders and other traffic offenders in residential neighborhoods will resume Wednesday morning, the department has announced.
The effort, dubbed Operation Safe Streets, will take place Wednesday from 7 to 11 a.m. and from 2 to 6 p.m., according to a news release from the department. During those times, deputies will be stationed in subdivisions throughout the parish, enforcing speed limits and other traffic laws.
About two dozen neighborhoods will be targeted in the operation, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. George Bonnett said.
In order to fulfill the operation’s manpower requirements, deputies from the Operations Division, including reserve and marine enforcement deputies, will be assigned temporarily to traffic duty throughout the parish, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The latest effort began on Monday, with deputies fanning out in neighborhoods from 7 to 11 a.m.
Since March 2008, the Sheriff’s Office has run several similar operations to catch people speeding and running stop signs in neighborhoods. More than 900 tickets were issued in the first such effort.
The Sheriff’s Office has not analyzed the number of citations issued Monday, but Bonnett said it appeared that fewer people were breaking traffic laws than during previous operations.
"I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but it looks like the effort may be working," he said. "As we continue to do this people are paying attention and starting to slow down."
Sheriff Jack Strain has said his office receives more complaints about speeding on residential streets than about any other kind of offense.
(Reporter Jeff Adelson contributed to this story)