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Anchorage Police Department – It’s WHAT NOT TO DO WEDNESDAY ? #WNTDW
One of the top requests we get from citizens is that we conduct more traffic enforcement. Many of the people who actually receive the tickets tend to voice the opinion that we should “go after the real criminals” and “find something more important to do.” Sometimes these opinions are peppered with colorful language when delivered. Regardless of your opinion, increased traffic enforcement and the writing of tickets greatly reduces traffic fatalities and injuries. Keeping citizens safe and enforcing the law is our job and is what we do. Even when it makes some folks angry. It falls under the “it’s for your own good” category.
Another reason why traffic enforcement is so important is because traffic stops very often lead to other things. Here are two stories that exemplify that very thing. They are a few years old but are excellent examples:
Story #1: An APD officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle for a regular traffic violation. After the officer exited his patrol vehicle and was in the process of approaching the car on foot, the driver shot himself in the head and died immediately. Further investigation revealed the driver had gotten fired from his job that morning and told his coworkers he’d be back to shoot the place up. It appeared that is where the driver was headed when the officer intervened. That was a rough day for the officer and devastating for the driver’s family. The stop also very probably put the kibosh on a workplace shooting.
Story #2: One of our officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle for a traffic violation. The vehicle had four occupants inside and the officer ID’d all of them. A few hours later we responded to a homicide. Witnesses were able to provide the getaway vehicle’s description but could not say who was inside. Low and behold the getaway car was the same one the officer had stopped earlier that day. Because of the information gathered from that stop the perpetrators were identified quickly and led to arrests for the murder.
Use your inside voice, play well with others, and remember we’re all in this together.