Between April 20 and 22, the El Dorado Police Department teamed up with other law enforcement agencies in six states in a campaign to stop impaired driving.
In that time, the “Driving High? Kiss Your License Goodbye!” enforcement effort netted 18 custodial arrests (a person was taken into custody) and 29 traffic citations in El Dorado, reported Lt. Kenny Hickman of the EPD.
The EPD joined city, county and state law enforcement agencies in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska in the “Driving High?” campaign.
The effort was spearheaded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and state police offices in each of the six states.
Local and state law enforcement agencies in each state conducted high-visibility enforcement operations to crack down on impaired drivers.
Of the arrests and citations that resulted from the mobilization effort in El Dorado, Hickman said only one stemmed from impaired driving.
“In a sense it was encouraging … This was an open and clear effort to keep drug-impaired drivers off the road,” he said. “Too many of our fellow citizens are impacted by drivers who drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.”
Hickman said large-scale mobilization efforts, such as “Drive High?”, encourage safe driving, noting that fewer traffic accidents were reported in El Dorado over the three-day period.
However, officers ran into another cause to remain vigilant, he said.
“Still, a matter of concern is the fact that seven of the arrests made over that weekend were drug-related,” Hickman said.
One of those arrests occurred within the final two hours of the “Drive High?” campaign.
A traffic stop near South Arkansas Regional Airport at Goodwin Field at 10 p.m. on April 22 led to the arrest of a Union County man and the seizure of $41,000 worth of narcotics, including a marijuana brick weighing 22.5 pounds, 24 bottles of Promethazine, 2,500 Ecstasy pills, 1,000 Xanax bars, and Hydrocodone pills.
Police also recovered a semi-automatic pistol and some cash from the vehicle of Derrick L. Rogers, 34, of 851 Phone Pole Rd.
In the coming months, Hickman said the EPD will participate in other mobilization campaigns and step up efforts targeting DWI and seat belt enforcement.
He said the EPD will notify the public about the upcoming campaigns.
The efforts are part of the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP), which is funded by the NHTSA and funneled through the Highway Safety Office of the Arkansas State Police.
The Highway Safety Office administers federal highway funds and oversees the highway safety program efforts supported by those funds for Arkansas.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.