Palm Springs Police Department launches campaign to crackdown on reckless driving

The Palm Springs Police Department launched "Operation Rear View Mirror" on Tuesday in an effort to enhance safety on roads throughout the city.

The campaign will involve a crackdown on speeding and reckless driving in 13 known hotspots identified by the department through community engagement.

Police Chief Andrew Mills detailed his department's objective during a press conference in front of City Hall Tuesday morning, alongside officers, members of the Palm Springs City Council and Dean Levine, the owner of BlackBook, a popular restaurant/bar located in the Arenas District.

PSPD has laid out the following key objectives as part of "Operation Rear View Mirror":

• Reduce speeding and reckless driving incidents in Palm Springs
• Identify key hotspots for speeders
• Raise awareness about the dangers of speeding and its impact on road safety
• Promote culture of responsible driving and adherence to traffic laws
• Establish "BUZZ STOPS" for citizens to utilize a safe ride home, instead of getting behind the wheel after drinking alcohol

"This is a city where there are far too many fatal collisions," according to Police Chief Andrew Mills. From 2018 to present day there have been 78 traffic fatalities in Palm Springs. "What we're finding is that so far this year we've had five fatalities. That's too many. We have to figure out how to slow the people down and make sure people obey the traffic laws, including red lights and stop signs, and certainly DUI is a major concern," stated Chief Mills.

The department is beefing up enforcement on the roads, which means more traffic citations for drivers that break the law. "We're going to have everybody from me to the newest person here in the department out writing tickets, so standby if you're speeding in the City of Palm Springs," stated Chief Mills.

Mills also addressed any potential misconceptions about where the money collected from traffic citation goes. "Most of the money goes to the court and the state. We get very little, and in fact if one person fights their ticket that's three hours of overtime that just ate up 100 tickets," explained Chief Mills.

News Channel 3 went alongside a PSPD officer to get a firsthand look at traffic enforcement procedures being deployed under "Operation Rear View Mirror."