The Clayton Police Department is cracking down on people speeding through town and other traffic violations.
They say with more people moving to the community, the number of people not following the rules of the road is on the rise.
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Sgt. Greg Morris, leading one of his busy shifts, is one of just three officers in the Clayton Police Department’s traffic unit.
"Is that enough?" Morris is asked. "I will always take more," he replies, emphasizing that more officers mean more safety.
That’s why his unit teamed up with about 20 other officers and Johnston county sheriff’s deputies to conduct what they call a saturation patrol just a couple of weeks ago. The operation stopped over 170 cars resulting in 100 charges.
“It’s basically one big operation to come in and put a lot of faces out on the streets and be able to expand what we do on a daily basis,” Morris said.
Morris believes these types of operations are necessary in their fast growing community. Over 50 thousand cars a day pass through its main road: us 70 business.
“That’s a lot of people in our book to keep safe,” Morris said.
One of the biggest trouble spots for Morris and his team are at these bigger junctions where highway 42 meets 70.
“It’s where it actually changes from 55 to 45 coming into town. This is one of the spots where we get a lot of speeders. People just coming in and not paying attention to where the speed limits change over,” Morris said.
He believes his job will only get harder as the town continues to add more people. He’s hopeful the department will be able to add more officers to the traffic unit to keep up.
“Our goal is to not be the bad guys in these situations. Our goal is to be out here and get people to slow down,” Morris said.