“We are putting officers in areas where complaints from the community have been issued,” Povilaitis said.
Additional patrols will be assigned to areas with the most collisions, he said.
Police have been monitoring speeds on Glenoaks, Cañada and Victory boulevards, Verdugo Road and Pacific, Rosedale and Honolulu avenues, Smith said.
More than 100 tickets were issued last weekend in a speed-enforcement task force in the city, he said.
A motorist who was driving 58 mph in a 35 mph zone on June 28 on Victory tried to flee the scene.
“He tried to elude the officer,” Smith said.
Another motorist on June 28 was taken into custody after a loaded handgun and brass knuckles were found inside his vehicle during a speed-enforcement traffic stop, he said.
Glendale drivers make up half of speeders in the city, according to a poll conducted by Glendale police.
Some residents say the Police Department’s efforts to increase speed-enforcement is necessary. Motorists drive dangerously and fast on the city’s surface streets, Glendale resident Catherine Flores said. She has also seen drivers engage in street races.
“We need the extra enforcement,” Flores said. “[Motorists] are going way too fast.”
Her dog was almost hit by a driver who was quickly pulling into a driveway, she said.
But motorists will continue to drive fast in the city even if police increase speed enforcement, Glendale resident Susan Acosta said.
“They [police] try, but drivers don’t listen,” Acosta said.
Steve Thomas of Glendale hopes the Police Department’s efforts will slow vehicles, but speeders are everywhere in the city, he said.
“There is a lot of crazy drivers here in Glendale,” he said.
“Over the last 20 years, people have started to drive fast.”
