The Chesterton Police Department worked three different grant-funded overtime patrols in April, with a “particular—but not sole—focus” on Indiana 49, according to the Chesterton Police Department Facebook page.
The patrols, all funded through National Highway Transportation Administration grants: CITLI (Click It To Live It); DUITF (Driving Under the Influence Task Force), and Blitz 117, targeting school-zone and bus stop-arm violations.
Officers worked a total of 82 overtime hours, most of them saturating the Indiana 49 corridor between I-94 and the Indiana Toll Road, according to the Chesterton Police Department Facebook page.
The following statistics were given:
*Traffic stops: 178 or more than two per hour.
*Citations: 36 (seatbelt violations, speeding, driving left of center, etc.).
*Warnings: 176 (speeding, equipment violations, etc.).
*Misdemeanor arrests: two for operating while intoxicated, one for driving while suspended-prior, and one for possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia.
“CPD officers did NOT actually observe any stop-arm violations, because—as Assistant Chief Francisco Rodriguez put it—’Drivers don’t usually blow by school bus stop-arms when a police officer in a marked squad car is following the bus,’ ” the Chesterton Police Department’s Facebook page stated.