The Sedalia Police Department announced it has recently received numerous complaints from both citizens and Sedalia School Resource Officers in reference to speeding vehicles in school zones.
“We've had more problems this school year with people disobeying the school speed limits,” Sedalia Police Chief Matthew Wirt said. “We wanted to go out and make a special presence in those areas, not only for speed limits but also to make the public more aware of those school zones.”
The Sedalia Police Department Traffic Unit and Crime Resolution Unit joined forces to implement a special operation during the months of December 2021 and January 2022 focusing additional efforts within school zones. Officers saturated marked school zones throughout this time conducting enforcement activity of motorists found violating traffic laws. This focused enforcement led to numerous contacts, which resulted in citations, warnings, and numerous arrests for various offenses. The following are the results of the 26 hours of enforcement action conducted since the beginning of December 2021:
• 107 total vehicle stops
• Seven arrests: three for driving with a suspended license, two outstanding warrant arrests, one driving while intoxicated, and one delivery of a controlled substance – methamphetamine
• 29 citations and 78 warnings: 94 for no insurance, 16 for speeding, three for expired registration, one for no seat belt, and 78 warnings for various violations
This SPD Traffic Unit continues to plan enforcement events in which similar coordinated efforts will be enacted to saturate school zones and other problem areas. Officers ask drivers to please drive cautiously.
The SPD announcement read: “We are sincerely grateful to the community for their concern and will continue to aggressively work on these issues as they arise. It is only with this type of collaborative partnership between our department and law-abiding citizens that we can ensure the safety of our children, school employees, and the motoring public.”
Wirt said he hopes drivers stay alert and drive slowly through school zones and warns the traffic enforcement division is out watching for those speeders.
“We don't have a high level of tolerance for speeding in those areas,” Wirt said. “We ask everybody to respect the schools, to respect those speed zones because obviously people's health and well-being are at risk.”
