EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) – Evansville police say they are stepping up traffic patrols after receiving the results of their community survey.

As I reported, EPD conducted a community survey over the summer in which people said the biggest police needs are for more traffic enforcement.

Just one day after the results of that survey were published, the police took action.

Over the course of two hours, EPD says they stopped 41 cars, resulting in 40 tickets and six written warnings.

The speed limit on Lloyd is 50 mph. Police say the average speed of the cars they stopped was 72 mph.

“We don’t want to give tickets, we want people to slow down, that’s it,” EPD Officer Taylor Merriss said.

Merriss says following fatal crashes earlier this year on Lloyd, traffic patrols have increased, but it’s something they’ve gotten away with.

After traffic enforcement was voted the top concern in their community survey, Merriss says they’ll be watching speed more closely.

“It’s a deterrent,” Merriss said. “When you see a police officer or somebody at the top of an overpass holding a speed gun, a lidar gun, it’s going to slow you down pretty quickly.”

Merriss doesn’t care if you slow down or the police do it for you. She says the department’s goal is to keep people safe.

“We’re just trying to meet the needs and the values ​​that people want to see from law enforcement,” Merriss said.

She says there is often a misconception that officers are trying to hit a quota of speeding tickets.

Merriss says there is no quota, it’s just about getting people to slow down.

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