Law enforcement agencies beefing up patrols for Thanksgiving

Motorists traveling over Thanksgiving weekend can expect to share the road with more law enforcement as local agencies prepare for heavy holiday traffic with bolstered patrols.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop A will work to reduce crashes on Interstate 70 during the holiday weekend through a program called the 10-Mile Trooper Project. Capt. Robert Powell, commanding officer of Troop A, said troopers will be assigned at 10-mile increments along I-70 in the Troop A area, which runs as far east as Pettis County, in 12-hour stretches Nov. 25 and Nov. 29.

As part of the program, Troop A officers will be positioned at 10-mile intervals on I-70 from noon to midnight Nov. 25 and again from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Nov. 29. Powell said troopers will focus on strictly enforcing traffic laws and assisting motorists.

Troopers also will conduct two hazardous moving enforcement projects in Henry County over the holiday weekend.

“Our goal is to make traveling on Missouri’s highways safer for everyone. Remember to do your part,” Powell said. “Obey the speed limit, pay attention to the job of driving, always buckle your seat belt, and if you are going to drink, please do not drive.”

The Sedalia Police Department received a grant this week from the Missouri Department Transportation’s Division of Highway Safety that will fund extra overtime patrols in the coming months, according to Sedalia Patrolwoman Victoria Kottman, head of the department’s traffic division.

“We did receive a grant, so we will be doing some additional enforcement through the holidays,” Kottman said.
The extra patrol officers will hit Sedalia roadways starting Thanksgiving weekend. Kottman said the grant also will fund additional enforcement efforts around Christmas and New Year’s Day.

“It will not be a constant push, but there will be extra enforcement” throughout the coming months, Kottman said.

Pettis County roadways also will have several patrol units out for the holiday weekend, said Sheriff Kevin Bond.
The Pettis County Sheriff’s Office did not receive a grant to use overtime to bolster patrols for the weekend, but Bond said his office will have more units than normal out to accommodate heavy holiday traffic.

“We are not working under a grant this year, so we will not have any extra overtime patrol units ... but we are at better staff levels than we have been previously,” Bond said. “There will be more units out, we just won’t have overtime.”

He said two cars from the Sheriff’s Office have been patrolling county roads until 4 a.m. recently. Before staff levels improved, the office only had deputies on patrol until about 2 a.m., Bond said.

He also noted Thanksgiving weekend will coincide with a MoDOT initiative encouraging greater seat belt use among state motorists. Bond said the initiative will give deputies more focus for watching traffic patterns in Pettis County over the holiday weekend.