“Operation Safe Stop” sees successful results

The City of Henderson Police Department created the “Operation Safe Stop” program that was launched in the 2022/2023 school year. This program actively monitored and tickets drivers that passed stopped school buses while loading and unloading students in the city.
Through this program, bus drivers were able to radio into their dispatcher, log the locations and numbers of violations witnessed. From that information, the Police Department handpicked certain buses to monitor the city. The Police Department has also been putting officers (as passengers) to watch for violations. If an officer sees a violation, they can radio other officers in patrol units to stop and ticket the violator.
Prior to implementing this program in 2022, the report for the school year showed over 500 violations logged county-wide. The current number is now less than 150, with half of those occurring within the city. There was a 75% decrease in reported violations from bus drivers. Finishing up the 2023-2024 school year, there are plans to continue this operation when school starts back in August.
“We will continue with our zero tolerance on passing school buses loading and unloading our kids,” stated Chief of Police Gary Davidson, “One child hit by a car while loading or unloading a school bus will be one too many.”