Jefferson County sheriff's deputies renew traffic enforcement under new leadership

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department said deputies pulled over nearly 100 drivers in the first week of November, a return to traffic duty in Louisville for a law enforcement group under new leadership.

Traditionally, in downtown Louisville, a big part of a sheriff's deputy's day was serving court papers or providing security in courtrooms. In fact, before Sheriff David James took over earlier this year, current patrol cars weren't equipped with radar units. But now, drivers are seeing those familiar brown sheriff's cruisers — lights flashing — making traffic stops across Jefferson County.

All that changed earlier this month, when the department conducted a small-scale traffic enforcement test.

"We did a detailed test to see how this was going to work," Chief Deputy Col. Steve Healey said Monday. "We wanted to put things out there and see what bugs we needed to work out."

During that three-day test, deputies pulled over 99 vehicles for traffic violations, resulting in 25 citations, 11 new charges and 19 arrests.

Deputies are now being encouraged to stop drivers committing traffic violations, but the creation of an official traffic unit will take time.

"We'll probably set up a two-week training course," Healey said.

The department is preparing six vehicles equipped with radar and lights, units that will focus on areas where residents have filed the most complaints.

"We're not going to stop everything that moves," Healey said. "We'll be using intelligence-based and complaint-based policing — focusing on the neighborhoods that report the most issues."

It will take a few more weeks before the new traffic unit hits the streets. But once it does, drivers across Jefferson County can expect to see more brown sheriff's cruisers watching closely for violations.

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