Leadfooted drivers be warned: State troopers on Monday began a 10-day crackdown on speeding in Minneapolis. And the State Patrol will be watching from the air, too.
For the next 10 days, the patrol will put into force its Highway Enforcement for Aggressive Traffic (HEAT) driving enforcement and education campaign to crack down on speeding and aggressive driving and curtail other criminal activity.
A minimum of 10 troopers each night from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. will patrol Interstate 94 concentrating on the segment running between Brooklyn Center and downtown Minneapolis where speeding is rampant and just last week two motorists were shot in the middle of the day.
"This corridor represents lots of challenges when it comes to speeding and aggressive driving, and it runs through an area of the state where we have had absolutely unacceptable levels of violent crime," said Col. Matt Langer, chief of the State Patrol.
In addition to troopers in squads, the patrol will have helicopters flying over the corridor to track motorists who attempt to flee from a traffic stop.
The patrol a few times a year conducts speed enforcement campaigns in conjunction with law enforcement from other agencies. While HEAT is similar, state trooper focus their attention on a specific road or area rather than statewide. The patrol first used HEAT in the mid 2000s and has used it off and on since to promote compliance with traffic safety laws.
A big uptake in risky driving — specifically speeding — during the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the patrol to bring HEAT back, and specifically on I-94 in Minneapolis. The corridor, which sees 75,000 to 85,000 vehicles a day according to recent MnDOT counts, is just one of many in the state seeing increased levels of bad driving conduct, Langer said And with last week's shootings of motorists near 49th and 57th avenues, and a spike in violent crimes in adjacent neighborhoods, it is a good place to start.
"The public is as fed up as troopers with driving behavior that is out of control," Langer said.
Speeding was the leading contributing factor to deadly crashes in Minnesota in 2021, accounting for 162 fatalities, the Department of Public Safety said.
The patrol will use internal funds and federal grants to pay troopers to work overtime. Results of each operation will be reported the following day on social media.
"Our message is that if you drive the speed limit, you will be fine," Langer said. "People change their behavior when they see a state trooper. We hope our work will have an impact in other places."
However, Communities United Against Police Brutality objected to exercise and in a statement demanded HEAT be called off.
"There is no evidence that people are more prone to speeding or committing crimes on the targeted stretch of highway than on any other," part of the statement said.
The group said such enforcement actions often target people of color.
