Top neighborhood cop Lt. Dana Smith promised East Rockers that police will focus on traffic-calming in response to five separate incidents of drivers hitting pedestrians in January alone.
Smith made the promise during a presentation Monday night at the virtual monthly meeting of the East Rock Community Management Team.
In January of 2021, there was just one pedestrian struck, he noted.
Smith laid out some specific plans.
“Let’s say the officers are in between calls. I want them to go to what are called hotspot areas and [sit in] a cruiser to kind of write the reports there,” with the aim to “slow things down in those areas,” Smith said.
“Hopefully, that will deter people from speeding or anything of that nature,” and decrease the volume of accidents.
Smith said that January was “pretty tough” because the whole police force was low on staffing. District 7 had only six officers to cover East Rock, Newhallville and Cedar Hill. “And we had 890 calls of service, as well, so we had to address those.”
Smith said February “was a little busy as well,” but he is eager to begin traffic initiatives like this one to “assist with these quality of life issues that we’re having on the East Rock side as well.”
East Rock CMT members Max Chaoulideer and Rob Rocke reflected on the rise in pedestrian crashes in the chat section of the Zoom meeting, pictured below.
Management team Chair Elena Grewal noted the discussion in the chat, and commented that the number is “high,” and that it is “sad about the pedestrians.”
Smith said that as the department returns to normal staffing levels, officers are “getting back to doing what we need to do as far as keeping the community safe.”
