With school back in full swing and Oxford back to its normal population, the Oxford Police Department is stepping up its speeding enforcement across town after an outcry of complaints about vehicles speeding through residential areas.
Oxford Police Chief Joey East and Mayor Pat Patterson are working to step up patrols in neighborhoods and along high volume roads to lower the number of citations given out. But East says the speeding pertains not only to students.
“In the last few weeks we’ve heard a lot of grumbling about the excess of speeding happening all over town,” said East. “We are bringing in officers to work overtime to help enforce speed limits as well as set up traffic calmings.”
According to East, demand for more on-duty officers has risen due to the on-duty officers being too busy to focus on catching speeders. With a larger population back in town, the department is putting off-duty officers on overtime. Bringing in the extra officers will allow the Department to crack down on speeding while at the same time answering all other necessary calls. But East says not everyone that has been stopped has received a citation.
“There were quite an amount of citations written this weekend, but there were even more warnings given out,” East said. “We only want to cite those that are really putting others in danger by speeding, so those who weren’t putting anyone in harm’s way were given a warning in hopes they will learn to slow down.”
East suggests that both students and residents give themselves extra time for their commute so everyone will slow down and not be in a frantic rush.
“Just slow down and please leave earlier,” East said. “It’s so crowded on all of the roads there’s no sense in speeding. Give yourself the necessary extra time. It will make things a lot more orderly on the roadways.”
