Lathrop police to get traffic unit to keep up with fast-growing population
LATHROP – One of the fastest-growing cities in California is boosting its police force to keep up with the population. A new traffic unit is coming to Lathrop.
It's estimated thousands of new residents move to Lathrop every year.
But one thing that may surprise you is the police department hasn't had a unit dedicated to traffic since it was established.
That's all changing with the force now looking for four traffic patrol officers.
"It's good to see, one of the things we've had issues with is red light runners, stop sign runners," Frankie Romo said.
Romo has lived in Lathrop for five years and has seen how fast the city has grown.
"I think they did a good job trying to curb that with the addition of lights over stop signs," he said. "But we still see an issue over really critical intersections where kids are trying to get to and from school. So more patrol I definitely welcome it."
Some locals like Romo feel the department is playing catch up.
"Patrol officers were doing traffic enforcement in between 911 calls which is the way it works in small agencies," responded Lathrop Police Captain Tracie Shea, "but as the city continues to grow and we expand our department, this was always one of our plans."
Captain Shea says the department recently received support from the city council to hire two more police officers.
This is freeing up the department to look for their traffic unit, which will have three motorcycle officers and one sergeant patrolling Lathrop's busiest intersections.
"We look at all of the collisions that happen within the city, we track that, and it's generally excessive speed, unsafe lane changes and also impaired driving. So we use that to set our priority for what the officers are going to do," she said.
Romo supports the traffic unit and hopes seeing an officer at a light can help dim unsafe driving.
"I think we can all be better community members," Romo said. "Being mindful of other people and their safety and things that are important to their well-being."
The department is actively looking for motorcycle officers.
They hope to put the traffic unit out in full force at the beginning of 2025.