Minnesota State Patrol to Crack Down on Street Racing, Speeding

(KNSI) – The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety says it is stepping up enforcement efforts to crack down on street racing and speeding.

In a press conference in St. Paul on Tuesday, Minnesota State Patrol Colonel Matt Langer said the activities are crimes by themselves, but often end up being tied to other offenses like car thefts and gang activity. He said interest in racing is as high as he has ever seen it.

“Speeding continues to be a significant problem. In fact, this year troopers have already stopped 318 vehicles in our state for traveling in excess of 100 miles an hour.”

Prosecutors have also begun using new tactics to end scenes like July 4th last year in downtown Minneapolis, charging drag racers with rioting. Langer says the crackdown is statewide, including northern Minnesota during the fishing opener.

Langer says air support is becoming a more important tool when responding to these situations. Law enforcement uses a helicopter and an airplane.

“They have really sophisticated camera technology that has thermal imagery for nighttime viewing and on top of the camera they have a mapping overlay so they can see every street address, every street in the state of Minnesota. They have great information to be able to relay to the officers on the ground.”

Since March 1st, there have been 460 people cited for street racing. The Highway Enforcement for Aggressive Traffic Unit – or HEAT focuses specifically on speeding, with 3,594 tickets written in just the past five weeks.

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