Surfside Beach police play host to Friday traffic checkpoint - SCNow
The Surfside Beach Police Department released the final tally of their activity resulting from the traffic safety checkpoint operation they hosted late Friday evening on Glenn's Bay Road just west of US 17 Business in Surfside Beach.
Police Chief Mike Frederick reported that 45 officers from 14 state and local agencies issued 68 traffic citations and arrested 10 people on a variety of charges that ranged from possession of crack cocaine, public intoxication, drivers license violations, to driving under the influence.
Frederick characterized the operation as "very successful," and added that these types of operations serve two purposes.
"We were, of course, stopping at least some portion of the motoring public from driving impaired by physically standing in the middle of the road Friday night," Frederick said, "but hopefully the awareness we created continues to make the roads safer even after we've broken down the lights and signs and departed."
Surfside Beach police conducted the checkpoint operation as a member of the statewide Law Enforcement Network (LEN) traffic safety task force.
The LEN conducts these operations around the state, utilizing task forces comprised of local agencies in each Judicial Circuit (the local LEN task force serves the Fifteenth Circuit – Horry and Georgetown counties).
The LEN maximizes both the enforcement and public awareness aspects of traffic safety by combining just a few officers from each jurisdiction to conduct a major checkpoint operation that would tax the resources of any single agency.
"Task forces like this are really the only method at our disposal for operations of this scale and efficacy," Frederick said.
"A few folks gave us an earful on the side of the road Friday night," Frederick said, "but we tried to explain that the public safety benefit of these operations far outweighs the relatively minor inconvenience."
"It's sobering to think about the fact that thus far in 2011 we've lost 382 courageous American souls in Iraq and Afghanistan," Frederick added, "and 584 South Carolinians have died on our highways in the same period. That's why we were out there."
26 Sep, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNH5dU9lnZuKjbumHTNToahCCIKFuQ&url=http://www2.scnow.com/news/grand-strand/2011/sep/25/surfside-beach-police-play-host-friday-traffic-che-ar-2463638/
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