PIERRE, SD (KELO AM) – Troopers from South Dakota and Minnesota, along with local law enforcement, join together later this week for a 21-hour joint operation designed to promote highway safety.
The Minnesota State Patrol, South Dakota Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies will have an increased law-enforcement presence on Interstate 90. The joint operation is from 6 a.m. (CDT) Friday, May 22, to 3 a.m. (CDT) Saturday, May 23.
Colonel Craig Price, superintendent of the South Dakota Highway Patrol, says the joint operation is designed to stop criminal activity and reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities.
“All law enforcement highlight traffic safety every day,” he says. “The most effective way to do that is by working together.”
Troopers will promote highway safety through enforcement, with an emphasis on speed, hazardous moving violations, seatbelt use and impaired driving. The operation includes use of patrol aircraft, personnel with police service dogs, drug recognition experts and motor carrier personnel. Motor carrier personnel from the Iowa State Patrol also are involved, as are many local law enforcement agencies.
“We will use all the resources available,” says Colonel Matt Langer, chief of the Minnesota State Patrol. “Through our cooperative effort, we want to further reduce those events that occur on our roadways and can impact so many people; not just those in the vehicles.”
The focus is on I-90 from the Wyoming border to the Wisconsin border. However, troopers are also working other state and county roads in the area, especially those that might be used to avoid the state-line ports of entry.