The Illinois State Police issued nearly 300 citations across the state during “Operation Lambert” last week.
During the seven day period between January 12th and January 18th, state Police Troopers conducted a special enforcement memorial operation dedicated to fallen ISP Trooper Christopher Lambert, who was killed in the line of duty on Jan. 12, 2019, when his squad was struck while he was on scene of a three-vehicle traffic crash on I-294 near Willow Road in Northbrook.
Sergeant Delila Garcia with the State Police says that the special enforcement operation was part of the system for Scott’s Law awareness in the state.
“We wanted to keep the public aware of Scott’s Law, the Move Over Law, and we have a two tier system where we want to educate the public, but we also need to enforce it so that people are aware of the law and remember to slow down and move over when approaching emergency or disabled vehicles on the side of the road.”
Sergeant Garcia says that the State Police feel the statewide operation was very successful in making drivers aware of Scott’s Law violations.
“So there were in total 503 Scott’s Law Details state wide that resulted in approximately 281 Move Over, Scott”s Law violations and actually 77 criminal arrests were made through the patrols as well.”
In 2019, four ISP Troopers were killed in the line of duty. Three were the direct result of either a violation of the Move Over (Scott’s) Law, driving impaired, or a combination of the two.
ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly said, “The results of “Operation Lambert” reflect greatly on this department and the men and women who risk their lives every day to keep motorists safe”, and that the Illinois State Police “will continue to aggressively enforce the law and educate the public in order to make 2020 a better year.”