KILLEEN, Texas — On Oct. 22, the Killeen Police Department stopped speeders for five hours on I-14 during a special traffic operation. They told the public where and when they were holding the operation a week before. Multiple news organizations aired stories on the traffic detail.
Still, in just five hours, the department ticketed 124 speeders and gave out 27 tickets for other offenses. Council members like Jim Kilpatrick knew speeding was an issue in the city, but found the speeds surprising none the less.
"I have a concern that the posted traffic laws must be respected," Kilpatrick told 6 News. "You tell somebody you are going to do this and then you still give over a hundred tickets for doing in excess of twenty miles over the speed limit."
Two weeks after the operation, it was still unclear if the police department would be able to follow up with more enforcement action, but a TxDOT grant could give them more resources to address speeding in the city.
The Killeen City Council on Tuesday will look at accepting a $49,995.94 Texas Department of Transportation Special Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) grant.
The grant will help pay for additional police overtime to, according to the city, "concentrate on concerns with speed, driving under the influence, distracted driving, intersection-related crashes, etc."
STEP officers would not respond to routine service calls and would be focused on specific zones of operation according to the grant agreement on the council agenda. You can see the zones here: Zone 1, Zone 2, Zone 3.
The Killeen Police Department could not provide an interview on traffic enforcement, but the zone maps show I-14 as part of the enforcement area. A KPD spokeswoman said the grant would result in more officers on I-14 "at times, but the focus is the zones, which include a portion of the Interstate."
KPD could not say if there are any more I-14 traffic enforcement operations planned for the future, or if the traffic unit would change patrols after the first enforcement operation.
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