Police Chief Talks Speeding, 128 Traffic Concerns

The following transcript includes excerpts from our live chat with . Selections have been edited in an order that makes questions and answers more readable. Text has not be changed except for grammatical and/or spelling errors.

To read the original July 24 chat, .

Here are some of the highlights from the chat:

Speeding Concerns

Reader Question from Tim: Understanding the department cannot be everywhere all the time and theresources are slim, is there anything that residents can do to assist with speedenforcement on residential streets? I have contact the department in the pastwhich resulted in speed traps, but they only lasted a few weeks.

Chief of Police Neil Ouellette: Hi Tim, Yes, we do have limited resources, but the most important deterring factors for the enforcement speed is whether the officers observe a violation during their efforts. One issue that we see regarding speed enforcement especially in neighborhoods, is the factor that the situation can usually be tied to one or a few individuals that live in the area. In these cases, if you can obtain the registration of the offender, we can often put an end to the problem. Along the same lines, we often find the culprit are neighbors in your area.

Reader Question From Jessica Jackson: There have been a few deaths recently because of pedestrians walking on Route 114...is this the new trend? Are you in favor of adding sidewalks or banning people from walking?

Chief of Police Neil Ouellette: Hi Jessica, The State Department of Transportation is currently looking into this situation. Some roadways which are considered high speed thoroughfares are not amenable to pedestrian crossings due to the speed of the motoring public. We will inform the public of the findings when the report is available.

Traffic At Route 128 Interchanges

Question from Peter W.: How are things looking at the RT35 and RT62 interchanges on 128? Any remaining improvements to be made traffic-wise?

Chief of Police Neil Ouellette: Hi Peter, Rte. 62 and Rte. 35 interchanges are a work in progress. They are working diligently to open the last ramp of that project. They will continue to fine-tuning the light sequences to ease congestion and put the final makings on pavement to ease congestion.

Question from R. Kennedy: Chief. Thanks for taking the time today. What's the number one concern you hear from Danvers residents? What do you do to address it? 

Chief of Police Neil Ouellette: We have deployed 1,042 selective enforcement patrols since January 1, 2012,coupled with utilizing our radar speed trailer and speed minder devices.Accident numbers remaining constantly at the 10 year average. The Towncontinues to offer a large retail, commercial and entertainment venues whichtend to increase traffic within our community.

Motel Homeless Population

Reader Question from Jennifer: With the number of homeless people skyrocketing in hotels, how does this effect the department? Are most of the calls we see in the police log to the motels dealing with homeless residents of the motels?

Chief of Police Neil Ouellette: As of 6/26/12, we have 138 homeless families including 115 children within our community. Although we have had an increase in service for the motels, most are a result of domestic dispute, medical calls and numerous 911 hang up calls.  As you can well imagine, when that number of families are placed by the state in that setting it creates a whole new set of social issues and challenges for families living in cramped quarters with no recreational facilities new by. It actually creates a situation where the motel premises becomes a neighborhood subjected to personalities and all the other issues we face in a neighborhood setting. Since this transition, it is interesting to note other calls for services involving criminal activities and disorder have decreased.