KILLEEN, Texas — Tired of speeders on I-14? The Killeen Police Department will be conducting a speed enforcement detail next week to address the issue. The department brought out their officers and gear hold a demonstration for media on Thursday.
6 News turned out to ask just how extensive this enforcement is going to be.
“For the last several months we've been seeing a lot of complaints. Citizens' driving complaints, people coming through town, on social media, that people are seeing an abundance of speeding on the highway,” Officer Matt Smith said.
Smith told 6 News the Killeen Police Department does a traffic enforcement detail on the highway at least twice a year but had not done one this year. While the traffic enforcement detail will be out October 22nd, it will only be for that one day. Smith said they regularly work different areas of the city after getting complaints and those complaints are generally about school zones.
“There are only five of us. When we get complaints in other locations, we can’t just stay in one area, we have to go work those complaints,” Smith said.
There are only five traffic division officers in the Killeen Police Department but other officers may be recruited to help out with the operation on I-14. Smith said previous operations had as many as ten officers on board.
Why can’t the Killeen Police Department patrol I-14 more often? KPD Lt. Robert Rush told 6 News, with 5 officers, they don’t have enough people to cover every shift.
“It depends on what the staffing is like, and what they can accomplish in a day.” Rush said. “Mathematically speaking, we don’t have enough officers to put one on every shift every day of the week.”
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