Middletown police officer says traffic pilot reduced weekly crashes

Officer Milton, a police officer with the Middletown Police Department, described a traffic-unit pilot program that he said has reduced the unit's weekly crash counts and improved enforcement.

"When we first started, I think I was averaging anywhere from 12 to 15 crashes per week in a 5day span. Um, and that's been reduced. I think we're down to around 10 to 12," Officer Milton said, characterizing the decline as a sign the pilot is having an effect.

Milton said the unit handles vehicle-related calls including parking complaints, crashes, traffic enforcement and OBI checkpoints (the transcript does not define "OBI"). He said officers pair calibration checks with video recordings that can be shown to drivers on scene and used in court. "It will have all of the information that is needed by the court um already on display and ingrained into the video data," he said.

He described the video as particularly useful where vehicles are side by side: "that way there's no doubt as to which vehicle was lasered. We did our checks at the beginning and then we have the video evidence to correspond not only with the checks but with the capturing of the vehicle speed as well."

Milton framed traffic safety as a personal mission. "Traffic safety um is something that's been important to me my entire life. I have unfortunately had some family members that have been killed in fatal crashes. Uh actually both here in the city of Middletown. My father was killed back in 1995 in a motorcycle crash and my aunt was killed um on Rosevelt Avenue," he said (the transcript spells the street name "Rosevelt Avenue").

The presentation focused on operational details and the officer's view of on-the-ground results; no formal motions or votes were recorded in the provided transcript.