Logical merger — 07/20/08

July 17, 2008 04:58 pm

— Gov. Steve Beshear’s reorganization of Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement into a division of the Kentucky State Police is a logical step in an evolution that began more than 20 years ago when a vehicle enforcement officer charged the operator of a noncommercial vehicle with drunken driving.
In response to that citation, the KVE officer initially was reprimanded for overstepping his authority. Attorneys for the arrested driver contended that the vehicle enforcement officer had no power to make the arrest and attempted to have the charge dismissed.
However, the courts ruled that as a sworn peace officer in Kentucky, the vehicle enforcement officers had the same arrest powers as all other law enforcement officers. The DUI arrest stood.
Prior to that case, KVE officers were widely viewed as having authority only to enforce the laws regarding commercial vehicles. Their main task was to enforce weight limits on coal trucks.
After the court ruling, the KVE — while still primarily enforcing weight limits on coal trucks — began to evolve into something similar to what the Kentucky State Police was when it was formed 60 years ago as the Kentucky Highway Patrol. Now, when motorists see a vehicle enforcement vehicle parked on the side of the highway, they know the know they risk receiving a speeding ticket if they are going too fast — or being charged with a DUI if they are intoxicated.
As part of the reorganization, the governor announced, vehicle enforcement officers apparently will be spending more time manning weigh stations and less time patrolling the highways. Beshear says the reorganization will save the state $750,000 to $1 million a year in personnel costs, fuel savings and other efficiencies. He says it will also increase revenue through fines and fees.
Our hope is that as a division of the KSP, vehicle enforcement officers will continue to be primarily concerned with enforcing weight limits. The administration of former Gov. Ernie Fletcher was the first to aggressively enforce weight limits on coal trucks and to hold coal companies accountable for overloading trucks. As a result, the number of coal trucks traveling many tons overweight dramatically decreased in the state, protecting the roads from damage and making the highways safer for all of us.
Those strides forward must continue. In short, we don’t want to see the reorganization slowly evolve to the point where former vehicle enforcement officers are spending less and less time on their primary task. Governor Beshear says that won’t happen. We’ll take him at his word.