Midland Police Stepping Up Efforts to Help Keep the Roads Safer
You’ve seen the traffic around the Permian Basin and the Midland Police Department is using a number of different methods to keep you safe.
Aggressive driving and not following the traffic laws like speeding are the biggest issues MPD is facing.
People running red lights are another big problem and that’s why officers are teaming up at intersections to witness and record people running the lights from different angles. Last month, four officers wrote 20 tickets for running red lights at Midland Drive and Andrews Highway in just one hour.
While you can expect to see a strong police presence on the streets, authorities are also using less visible techniques to catch offenders. One example is to implement ghost lettering on patrol cars, allowing them to blend in with other cars while remaining clearly marked as police cars.
Patrol officers are also making enforcing traffic laws their top priority in their free time
MPD typically receives state grant money on an annual basis to further citywide efforts targeting DWIs and red light runners and has applied for funds from TxDOT to catch speeders on Loop 250. A recently implemented web-based program called Crash Reporting and Analysis for Safer Highways (CRASH) allows officers to electronically report crashes to TxDOT, as well as analyze and review data in real time. MPD was previously required to manually complete a crash report form and mail it to TxDOT.