IA - FCSO to take part in Operation Northern Lights

FCSO to take part in Operation Northern Lights

Published: Thursday, October 4, 2007 9:49 AM CDT
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The Floyd County Sheriff will join with law enforcement agencies in northern Iowa, including those in the counties sharing Highways 9, US18 and 3 in a special traffic safety and enforcement project, titled 2007 Operation Northern Lights. Representatives from city, county and state law enforcement agencies will be participating in this corridor enforcement event today.

Enforcement will be ongoing and often done in multi-agency, cooperative efforts. This enhanced patrolling and violator contact will target traffic law offenders in an attempt to make this fall driving period much safer.

Enforcement will target impaired driving, safety belt and child passenger restraint use, stop sign and stop light violations, excessive speed and driving without a license.

The goals are to raise Iowa’s safety belt use rate from the current 90%, reduce impaired driving and further prevent fatalities and injuries on Iowa’s roadways.

The results of the 2006 Northern Lights Corridor event had seven drunk driving contacts, 228 seat belt violations, 749 speed violations with a total of 2057 total traffic violations being reported by 41 agencies in the project area. Additionally, these agencies reported 2 felony and 4 narcotics arrests as well as 12 arrest warrants were served.

The participating law enforcement agencies will utilize special equipment including laser sighting radar, aircraft and specialty trained dogs (K-9s).

These large enforcement events are intended to have a positive influence on the driving habits of the thousands of motorist that drive in this portion of Iowa.

This effort is one among many completed and planned for in the fall time period.

Safety belt use violations and impaired drivers will be primary concerns for law enforcement throughout Iowa as we enter the fall and winter holiday period.