PA - State Troopers Patrolling Schuylkill For Speeders

[StlouisX50]

(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA Philadelphia Police are getting a helping hand from Pennsylvania State Troopers who are now assigned to catch speeders on the Schuylkill Expressway.

The move is sending more officers back to the city's streets where they are needed most to combat crime.

State Troopers can now arm themselves with a device that city officers never could … a radar gun.

Speeding drivers notice the difference on the Expressway and so do road construction crews.

"It works great for us because you have people flying through the construction zone and it is a very dangerous job out here and we feel comfortable with them stopping cars that's going too fast," road worker Steve London said.

To help Philadelphia police fight crime, the state didn’t offer the money the city requested but it gives Philadelphia police officers the opportunity to fight crime in the neighborhoods.

"That saves the taxpayers of the city $10 million a year, it gives 75 police officers back to the police department," Philadelphia Councilman Frank Rizzo said.

Troopers began taking over jurisdiction on the Schuylkill in a phased approach earlier this year.

"The city was doing a great job on the highway, we're just basically piggy-backing for what they already had going on," Trooper Danea Alston explained.

Drivers being ticketed are being issued warnings but should be aware that State Troopers and their radar will complete their takeover by the end of the summer.

For now, the troopers only patrol north of South Street but they will move further south as the summer moves on.

In addition, they will begin patrolling I-95 next year.

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

[Maestro]

This is a joke, there is so much traffic on the Schuylkill there is no way they could get a good radar reading. Cars literally follow each other feet from each other.

I use to drive that road all the time and only saw a few Police mostly sitting on the side of the road watching for people doing stupid thing like using the shoulder of the road and on-ramps as passing lanes and just plain reckless driving.

In the 80 the state police use to patrol the road, I guess in the 90's they turned it over to the local police.

With Philly having at least one murder a day it would be a good idea not to have the local Police patrol the highways anymore

[StlouisX50]

LOL good luck with the local police not patrolling the highway even though there is murders daily. Too much revenue in it. I don't know why police just don't admit it, I mean hell it would shut all of us up about income lol.