No, your eyes did not deceive you – those were police officers from Ripon, Stockton, Tracy, the California Highway Patrol, and the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office writing tickets in Lathrop last week.

As part of on a rolling cooperative effort throughout San Joaquin County where law enforcement agencies send traffic officers – also known as motorcycle officers – to blanket a community for a shift and target specific traffic issues that have been of concern to residents and law enforcement alike, Lathrop was the focal point on Friday when the Saturation Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) came to town.

And they were busy.

Throughout the shift there were 249 vehicles stopped and there were 230 citations issued as well as 12 misdemeanor citations. Three vehicles were towed as a result of the enforcement.

When announced by Lathrop Police on its social media channels last week, the effort drew praise from the community – with some commenting about how the impacts extended beyond even after the additional officers left town.

While agencies like the Lathrop Police Department have traffic officers of their own, those officers are often working solo or in an occasional pair during their shift – making it difficult to cover the entire city during a standard day.

While participation requires sending an officer to a neighboring community for an entire shift, the effort was organized so that it’s repaid exponentially with additional personnel whenever the next city’s time comes – while also working to strengthen interagency communication and foster relationships amongst agencies that benefit the people they serve.

To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.