Police watch for speeders in school zones

Some schools in the Elkhart and Goshen area started a week earlier than last year and with class already in session, police are making sure drivers pay attention to the speed limit in school zones. 

Sergeant Chris Snyder with the Elkhart Police Department says every day an officer is assigned a local school in the area and they patrol the area from 7:00 am until classes begin. This shift is every day for the entire academic year. 

Sergeant Snyder says no speeding tickets have been issued yet but he says having officers at schools is more about ensuring the overall safety of kids and drivers. 

"We know that those are highly populated with kids in the morning walking to school or even in the afternoon hours walking home from school. So each of our officers has a school that they're assigned to and they go there and patrol that area," says Snyder.  "Just give yourself that extra little bit of time so that you don't have to hurry, you don't have to speed through school zones. Tickets for that school zone start at $300 so that's a pretty hefty fine."