Sheriff's office to target 16 neighborhoods Saturday as part of Operation Safe Streets

The Sheriff’s Office will target 16 neighborhoods from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday in a crackdown on side street speeders, the fifth such operation since March.

Operation Safe Streets, designed to change driving behavior in residential neighborhoods, netted roughly 700 tickets in Phase II alone, Capt. George Bonnett, Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said.

Saturday’s effort is the fourth and final crackdown of Phase II. Phase I debuted March 20 after Sheriff Jack Strain promised to crackdown on residential speeders, stop sign violators and other traffic infractions, which made up the public’s No. 1 complaint, he said. In that crackdown, roughly 50 deputies fanned out in 25 residential neighborhoods, writing 919 tickets by days end. Some residents were ticketed twice, once to work, another while returning home, Strain said.

After Saturday’s effort, Strain will examine how many tickets were written per day by each deputy to determine if the campaign is working and future dates needed, he said. The lesser amount of tickets written, the better driving habits have become, he said.

The following neighborhoods from Covington to Slidell will be targeted: Crestwood, Timberbranch, Marigny Trace, Meadowbrook, Lake Ramsay, Section Road, Fairhaven Road, Smith Road, LA Tung Road, Million Dollar Road, Hickory Hills, River Gardens, Lake Village, Crossgates, Magnolia Forest and Timber Ridge.