When a police officer approached to shine his flashlight on me the other night, I didn’t flinch. I was alert, had my seat belt buckled and my phone put away.
I didn’t have a drop of alcohol in my system and thanks to the 16-ounce coffee I had hours before, I wasn’t a bit drowsy. I was going to be the easiest, most cooperative late-night safety check the Oak Forest Police Department ever had.
I was so confident the inspection would be uneventful, I reached across my chest to proudly display my fastened shoulder strap when he waved his light inside my vehicle. He gave an approving nod and when the stoplight turned green, we parted ways.
I drove away thinking I was a model citizen.
Looking back now, I think I acted pretty foolish. After last week’s events with police that took place in Dallas, Baton Rouge, La., and in a suburb of St. Paul, Minn., on the heels of so many others across the country, I should have just played it cool and skipped the theatrics.
I was so quick to show how much I was observing the law, I didn’t realize my midnight haste to show my seat belt was secure could have been mistaken for a reach for a weapon, or any number of actions that could have escalated the moment. Credit the officer for recognizing my zeal for what it was and nothing more.
I’ve seen these overnight checkpoints several times on my drive home from work through Oak Forest. I’ve seen where officers station their vehicles for maximum exposure and stand as sentries facing traffic flowing into the Southland from I-57. It’s why I take that route home. It feels protected.
Now I get it that my interaction with police was pretty benign and far removed from the racially-charged events others have had to deal with, and that as a white man who commutes from suburban Orland Park each day, worrying about violence is not on my radar. But keeping any kind of interaction from needlessly escalating has.
After living in Chicago and seeing how drivers take risks when no one is watching, I’ve always appreciated efforts like this one that keep streets safe at that hour and reinforce the rules of the road.
Dominic D’Ambrosio, deputy chief of the Oak Forest Police Department, says the initiative is part of a federal grant-funded Sustained Traffic Enforcement Program through the Illinois Department of Transportation.
“(The) Oak Forest Police Department has been participating in STEP for more than 10 years,” D’Ambrosio said. “Our department does not participate in any impaired driving ‘checkpoints.’
“Our officers only stop vehicles after an infraction is observed. Nearly all of these stops are for seat belt infractions. Some of the time is utilized by our officers on saturation patrol, but the vast majority of the time is spent by establishing enforcement zones.”
The program is focused on bringing impaired driving and seat belt enforcement together because of the connection between late-night alcohol-involved fatalities, late-night unbuckled fatalities and lower late-night seat belt usage rates. The goal is to reduce motor vehicle crashes, fatalities and injuries, increase the use of occupant protection devices, and to reduce impaired driving.
Overnight hours have been a target for such measures since 2007, when IDOT began asking law enforcement agencies to shift at least 50 percent of enforcement activities from daytime to nighttime between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The results have been lower fatality and higher seat belt rates during the overnight hours, though it still remains by far the most dangerous time to be on the road.
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According to an IDOT report, between 2009-13, the highest percentage (71.6) of alcohol-related fatalities in Illinois occurred between midnight and 3 a.m. The same three-hour window also contained the lowest percentage of belted occupants in fatal accidents (26.4).
“It is more than just detecting infractions and writing citations,” D’ambrosia said. “The intent of the program is to increase seat belt usage. We want to create as much impact in terms of visibility as possible.”
Now, it serves as a reminder, especially in the wake of recent events, the safety of all parties is a concern during any kind of traffic stop or safety check.
“There is absolutely an increased concern,” D’Ambrosio said. “Citizen interaction with officers on a traffic stop, and an enforcement zone interaction shouldn’t be much different, I always provide the same advice:
“Remember that the officer typically has no idea who you are. For example, imagine how scary it would be to walk up to a dark car at night with no clue of the intentions of the driver. As the officer approaches your window he/she is focusing on the interior of your vehicle and searching for anything that will hurt him/her. Your best bet at this point is to let the officer know that you are one of the good guys. You can do this by not reaching around inside the car and keeping your hands in a place where he/she can see them.
“From there, let the officer take control of the situation. He or she will certainly let you know what he/she wants you to do next. The officer doesn’t want a confrontation any more than the motorist does, he/she simply wants to go home in one piece at the end of the shift.”
Moving forward, I’ll just be sure to keep my cool when the flashlight swipe reaches me so the person on the other end feels just as safe.
Steve Zimmerman is a copy editor/designer for the baiduhai who moved to the south suburbs from Chicago’s northwest side in May. His email address is [email protected].