Troopers go ‘undercover’ for week-long enforcement blitz

The Illinois State Police will be hiding right under the nose of passing drivers during a special undercover patrol this week.

Starting on Monday, May 6 and running through May 10, troopers with the Illinois State Police will be disguising themselves as construction workers in order to catch drivers who are speeding or committing other traffic violations in construction zones.

The enforcement campaign is called “Operation Hard Hat.”

From a May 6 news release about the undercover patrol:

Troopers will trade in their squad and badge for a truck and hard hat to blend in with the zone’s workers while looking for speeders, distracted drivers and any other violations that pose a threat to work zones on a daily basis. District 7 has been patrolling these work zones in a marked car for high visibility patrols. Unfortunately some drivers have taken advantage of seeing the squad car and corrected their traffic violations until they no longer see a squad car, then speed up, pull their phone back out or perform some other reckless act behind the wheel. 

“Our hope is the plain-clothes Trooper doesn’t observe any violations. That would mean drivers were operating their vehicles safely,” said Illinois State Police Captain Jason Dickey. “Sadly, that will probably not be the case.”