Police, DMV Truck Enforcement Project

The Newtown and Monroe municipal police departments, along with the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), held a joint commercial truck enforcement project on Thursday, September 27, at a site off Route 25 in northern Monroe, issuing approximately $4,000 in fines for vehicular violations.

Police stopped commercial vehicles traveling on Route 25 for safety inspections. The inspections were performed at a vacant industrial site off Route 25 in Monroe, near the Newtown border.

Both the DMV and Officer Jeffrey Silver of the Newtown police, who is a federally certified commercial vehicle inspector, checked the trucks for violations, according to Newtown police Sergeant Aaron Bahamonde.

 Eleven trucks were inspected and 90 commercial vehicle violations were detected, according to the sergeant.

Inspectors placed seven vehicles “out of service” for violations involving unsecured loads, lighting problems, inoperable brakes, exceeding weight limits, loose or missing wheel fasteners, broken springs, and flat tires, he said.

Written inspection reports, requiring that the trucking companies to fix the violations, were issued.

Sgt Bahamonde said that when town and state agencies pool their resources in a joint enforcement effort with the common goal making the roads safer for residents, it is good.

Lieutenant Rosalie Stuart of the Monroe police organized the joint enforcement operation.

Based on the success of the project, future joint enforcement projects are being planned, Sgt Bahamonde said.

Newtown, Monroe, and Trumbull police, plus DMV inspectors, conducted a similar enforcement project in Monroe last May.