BY: JENNIFER MADRIGAL
(Image courtesy : City of Eastvale)
EASTVALE – On March 25, residents contacted our Eastvale Community News Facebook about a large presence of police on Limonite. Authorities were contacted and we reported that the Riverside Sheriff’s Department was just conducting routine patrols and no major issues were reported. Later that day, the City of Eastvale released a press release explaining that the Eastvale Traffic Police Department’s Traffic Division conducted a Safety Enforcement Operation as part of its commitment to public safety. The operation was conducted at two different intersections. The first intersection was near Limonite Avenue and Sumner Avenue and the second intersection was Limonite Avenue and Hamner Avenue. This operation is one of many that will be conducted throughout the year and was done in response to ongoing citizen concerns of speeding, texting and using cellphones while driving. This operation resulted in 50 citations being issued of which 4 vehicles were towed for drivers operating without a valid drivers license. The traffic saturation, as these are commonly called, was conducted between the hours of 7am-8:30am and again from 12pm-2:20pm.
At the March 25 Safety Council Meeting, Eastvale resident, Don Pettinger, questioned the necessity of this operation and was concerned that these types of “sweeps” give the city a bad reputation. Pettinger addressed the commission and stated that, ”All that we (Eastvale Police Department) do is issue citations on Limonite, Hamner and Sumner and everyone kind of knows where those officers are hidden”. In response to Mr. Pettinger’s concerns, Lieutenant Yates, Eastvale’s Asst. Chief of Police, explained that the original purpose of todays traffic saturation was actually aimed towards the local schools, but when officers realized that the schools were on spring break, they made a last minute decision to instead focus on speeding, texting and drivers using cellphones. This in itself is a large issue and residents have complained about these issues frequently to The Riverside Sheriff’s Department. Yates further explained that these types of sweeps are common and that citations are necessary because, “warnings don’t always work and so we have to issue citations because that’s how you bring traffic collisions down”.
According to Yates, the purpose of these sweeps is in direct response to community concerns. For example, Riverside Sheriff’s Department has done numerous sweeps on issues from bike safety and helmet usage, to truancy, to burglary and drug sweeps, etc. All of these sweeps have been done with the intent of improving public safety. The issue of the City doing these sweeps in order for a revenue boost was also brought up, but City Manager Carol Jacobs, shook her head and asserted that that simply was not true. According to Jacobs, the city gets very little revenue from citations and that the amount of money from fines and citations is merely “a drop in the bucket”.
While the need for these sweeps and saturations is definitely needed and valid, especially around our schools, many residents feel that other areas need more attention. Pettinger voiced this issue when he said, ” Eastvale’s two major problems are residential burglaries and burglaries from vehicles during the daytime hours, so what do they do, they create saturations and shoot radar instead of giving neighborhoods saturated patrols for possible burglary activities”. In response to this, Yates again explained how the saturations work and how revenue is generated with very little of the revenue going to the City. Yates also explained how the Sheriff’s Department is committed to acting on the concerns of the citizens and actively trying to conduct various sweeps to increase overall public safety.
One way that the Riverside Sheriff’s Department plans on conducting strategic sweeps, is by issuing a calendar with a priority list of schools that would receive extra traffic enforcement. These saturations would be rotated by school, starting with those that have the highest need or priority. This calendar would obviously be shared only by law enforcement and city officials and not to the public. Yates hopes that continued saturations and sweeps will increase safety and cause citizens to be more aware .
The City of Eastvale and the Riverside Sheriff’s Department encourage citizens to always obey the posted speed limits, wear your seat belt(s), refrain from using a hand-held wireless telephone device while driving and follow the traffic signal movements.
Citizens may submit an anonymous crime tips using the Sheriff’s CrimeTips online form.
