Police gear up for long weekend

Buckling up might make this Memorial Day weekend a bit cheaper as well as safer. Police across Indiana will be setting up special zones throughout the weekend to enforce the seat belt law.\nFrom May 18 to May 31, the "Click It or Ticket" campaign will be reinstated in order to make sure Indiana motorists are using their seat belts. The campaign uses high visibility enforcement and media coverage to spread the message that not complying with the seat belt law will result in a ticket. Nearly 3,000 seat belt enforcement zones will be set up during this time period across the state.\nThe IU Police Department, Bloomington Police Department and the Monroe County Sheriff's Department will all be participating in this campaign. \nIUPD Sgt. Tim Lewis said they received $5,000 in grants to pay for the additional officers to man the enforcement zones. The $5,000 was spread out between four "blitzes," the last ones held during the last week of February and the first week of May. IUPD gave out 172 seat belt tickets during that blitz. Lewis said he did not know if they would reach that number this time.\n"Since having come off a blitz not too long ago, it's going to be harder to find them," Lewis said.\nBPD Sgt. Mike Diekhoff said they are raising awareness successfully about seat belt usage. \n"I stopped a guy last night and he said, 'Click It or Ticket, right?'," Diekhoff said.\nDiekhoff said he has noticed considerable improvement over the past year in seat belt use among Bloomington drivers.\n"One of the biggest complaints officers have is it's getting harder and harder to find people violating the law, and that's a good thing," Diekhoff said. "Our whole goal here is to save lives."\nRecent IU graduate Pamela Klein said she agreed with that goal, even if it meant ticketing people.\n"I think that putting on your seat belt is the easiest thing to save your life," Klein said.\nSome people have questioned if the seat belt law really saves lives, and if it's worth the money the government is spending on the program during this time of statewide budget deficits.\nErin Hollinden, the press secretary for the Monroe County Libertarian Party, said her party definitely opposes ticketing for seat belt violations.\n"It's just hassling people who are going about their daily business and not harming anyone," Hollinden said. "If everything that was stupid were illegal, then a third of Americans would be in jail, another third would be police officers, and the other third would be paying for it all."\nJunior Blake Thalheimer, however, said he believes the law does more good than harm.\n"When people are forced to wear seat belts by law, they help everyone out," he said.\nNo matter what side someone might take on this issue, if they are caught in one of the enforcement zones this weekend without a seat belt, there will be repercussions.\n"If you don't wear a seat belt, you're going to get a ticket," Diekhoff said.