Lathrop police are tasked with pushing the traffic unit to keep up with the rapidly growing population

LATHROP — One of California’s fastest-growing cities is increasing its police force to keep up with the population. A new transportation unit is coming to Lathrop.

It is estimated that thousands of new residents move to Lathrop each year.

But one thing that may surprise you is that the police department has not had its own traffic unit since its inception.

That is now changing as the police are now looking for four traffic wardens.

“It’s good to see we’ve had issues with red light and stop sign runners,” Frankie Romo said.

Romo has lived in Lathrop for five years and has seen how quickly the town has grown.

“I think they’ve done a good job of trying to curb that by putting lights over stop signs,” he said. “But we still see a problem at really critical intersections where kids are trying to get to and from school. So I definitely welcome it if there are more patrols.”

Some locals like Romo feel the department is trying to catch up.

“Patrol officers were conducting traffic enforcement between 911 calls, as is typical in small agencies,” responded Lathrop Police Captain Tracie Shea, “but as the city continues to grow and we expand our department, this has always been one of our plans.” ”

Captain Shea says the department recently received support from the city council to hire two more police officers.

This gives the department the opportunity to look for its traffic unit, which has three motorcycle officers and a sergeant patrolling the busiest intersections in Lathrop.

“We look at all the collisions that happen within the city, we track that and it generally involves excessive speeding, unsafe lane changes and also impaired driving. So we’re using that to set our priorities for what officers are going to do,” she said.

Romo supports the traffic unit and hopes the sight of an officer at a stoplight can help curb unsafe driving.

“I think we can all be better members of the community,” Romo said. “Pay attention to other people and their safety and things that are important to their well-being.”

The department is actively seeking motorcycle officers.

They hope to have the traffic unit in full use by early 2025.