Illinois State Police have released the results from this year’s “Operation Sauter”, a twenty four hour truck enforcement campaign held annually in honor of a trooper killed in the line of duty.
This year, Operation Sauter was conducted statewide on March 28 -29.
State police conducted an aggressive truck inspection campaign on Illinois roadways, according to WANDTV. Here are the major takeaways:
- 1811 commercial vehicles were inspected
- 1,088 written warnings were issued
- 202 citations were issued
- 99 trucks were placed out of service
- One commercial vehicle driver was arrested and charged after troopers discovered 3.7 pounds of heroin during a traffic stop.
This was the fifth consecutive year that the Illinois State Police conducted truck inspections in memory of 28 year old Trooper James Sauter, who died on March 28, 2013 when his cruiser was hit by a semi truck on I-294 near Chicago after the driver allegedly fell asleep. During last year’s Operation Sauter campaign, troopers inspected 1,437 trucks and placed 138 out of service.