During the week of January 12 to January 19, police from Metro, North Las Vegas and UNLV conducted three enforcement blitzes in which they targeted teen drivers, 16 to 20 years old, violating traffic laws.
The results were astonishing: Police issued 445 citations.
Violations included speeding, driving without proof of insurance or registration and—the focus of the campaign—failing to wear a seat belt.
Why teens? “The objective of this campaign is to reduce traffic fatalities among teens on our local roadways,” read a statement issued by Metro. “According to the Nevada Department of Public Safety, teens have higher fatality and injury rates in motor vehicle crashes than any other age group.”
On account of their research, the NDPS actually provided partial funding for the campaigns, says Mark Hoyt of the North Las Vegas Police Department. In addition, he says, more enforcement blitzes have already been planned.
And so, what if research was focused on accidents involving senior citizens, or, say, Asian people: Can the police target campaigns on those particular groups as well?
“I really don’t know,” says Hoyt. “That’s a good question.”
Allen Lichtenstein, an attorney for the ACLU of Nevada, says that, in any case, targeting people based on demographics is not merely inappropriate, it is a problem.
“Imagine such enforcement in terms of a specific gender or race,” he says. It brings to mind the ignominious “driving while black” stigma created by police profiling, he adds.
Hoyt is quick to point out that North Las Vegas police officers did not profile drivers who looked young, but rather, set up their saturation points at area high schools.
Officers from Metro did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment on the issue. Their released statement, however, says they have “adopted a strict ‘No Tolerance’ approach when dealing with violators.”