LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It was a busy weekend in Little Rock, mostly for law enforcement. Many people took to social media to ask why they were seeing so many state troopers pulling people over on main roads.
Normally you see state troopers on the shoulder of freeways watching for speeders or accidents, but this weekend they were spotted in places you typically don’t see them.
The reason behind that is a new initiative called "Operation Safe Streets." Arkansas State Police explained how the goal of the operation is to keep more eyes on the Capital City.
“We brought in about 30 state troopers to conduct patrols in the Little Rock and Pulaski County area,” said Captain Jeff Sheeler.
After a month of preparation, Arkansas State Police along with the Little Rock Police Department and Pulaski County Sheriff's Office all put their plan in place over the weekend.
“We took four illegal weapons off the streets, we took a pound of methamphetamine off the streets, two and a half pounds of marijuana off the streets, and then we got a stolen car,” Captain Sheeler described. “Drunk driving, we made almost 30 drunk driving arrests in two days.”
Originally ASP wanted to focus on putting a stop to street racing, which they explained continues to be an issue; but troopers quickly realized there's much more to be done.
“We've seen a rise in fatalities, we've had a couple of fatalities around the Pulaski County area that were that were a result of speeding and aggressive behavior,” said Captain Sheeler. “We're targeting aggressive drivers. We're targeting speeders drunk drivers and we're also targeting people that are engaging in criminal behavior.”
With summer right around the corner, Captain Sheeler explained that an increase in patrol is needed.
“The more we're visible crime goes down,” he added.
In total, Arkansas State Police made 610 arrests this weekend. They plan to continue operation safe streets over the next few months, so you'll be seeing more troopers out and about.