Time: Fri Dec 12 17:19:22 1997 To: From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: And you think we live in a free country ?! (fwd) Cc: Bcc: sls References: <snip> > >Your papers plzzz... > >> http://www.athensnewspapers.com/1997/082997/0829.a2seatbelts.html >> >> Seat belt law crackdown nets 50,000 >> >> By Lori Wiechman >> Associated Press >> >> ATLANTA - A statewide, weeklong effort to catch Georgia drivers who >> failed to buckle up resulted in more than 50,000 arrests, more than >> half for seat belt violations but many involving felonies, the State >> Patrol said Thursday. >> The number of arrests in "Operation Strap 'N' Snap" was "totally >> astounding and way over what we thought they would be," Georgia State >> Patrol Col. Sid Miles said Thursday. >> Officers from the Georgia State Patrol, sheriff's departments and >> city police departments made 28,420 seat belt arrests during August >> 18-24. >> But more startling was the number of drug arrests (239), fugitives >> apprehended (184), stolen vehicles (42) and other felonies (155), >> Miles said. >> "We didn't know it'd be these kind of numbers," he said. >> But in some parts of Georgia, the law isn't being fully enforced. >> "You need to give people a warning instead of right off the bat >> writing a citation," said Pulaski County Sheriff Jerry Lancaster. >> "I try to buckle mine up every time I get into the car. I 'bout got >> accustomed to it," he said. >> He said there's a need for the law, but he doesn't have that a big >> enough force to monitor seat belt violators. First-time offenders will >> receive a warning and then a citation if they are caught a second >> time. >> Miles said offenders are not supposed to get off that easy under >> the seat belt law passed by the Legislature in 1996 that permitted >> officers to stop people for not wearing seat belts. >> "We don't write warnings for seat belts," he said. "We prefer he >> wouldn't but that's his business." >> In last week's "Operation Strap 'N' Snap," officers set up >> roadblocks and observation points to apprehend drivers violating the >> law. >> An adult driver or passenger is fined $15. Those with young >> children not in a car seat or seat belts are fined $50 for the first >> offense and $100 for a second or subsequent ticket. >> During the week, 2,526 drivers were ticketed for failing to have a >> child in a car seat or wearing a seat belt. The highest number of >> child restraint arrests was 107 in Toccoa, about 85 miles northeast of >> Atlanta. >> The effort is the first of eight crackdowns, the next of which will >> come in a couple of months, Miles said. He said statistics show that >> 68 percent of drivers wear seat belts. >> The most seat-belt arrests were in 1,767 in Toccoa, followed by 944 >> in Dalton, about 80 miles northwest of Atlanta. >> Of 239 drug arrests, nine were in Dublin, about 45 miles south of >> Macon in central Georgia. Of 184 fugitives apprehended, 10 were in >> Conyers, about 22 miles east of Atlanta. >> "There are some who would say, 'Why aren't you guys out there >> catching crooks?' You heard the numbers," said Thomas J. Enright, >> regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Transportation. >> "They got wanted felons, made drug arrests, found stolen cars. There >> were out there catching crooks." >> Miles said he will ask the Legislature to revise the law to include >> pickup trucks, which often carry passengers unsecured in the back. >> "We need to address the problem of pickups," he said. > <snip>
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