Well over 200 command-level, senior law enforcement officials from New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have come to the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel in East Rutherford for this large-scale conference. Their ranks are bolstered by New Jersey Attorney General Peter C. Harvey, NJ DOT Commissioner John F. Lettiere, Jr., Roberto Rodriguez, Governor’s Representative and Director of the NJ Division of Highway Traffic Safety, Thomas M. Louizou, Regional Administrator, Eastern Region, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Brian McLaughlin, Senior Associate Administrator, Traffic Injury Control for NHTSA, Lt. Col. Juan Mattos of the New Jersey State Police and many others.

“There are many examples of major crimes being prevented or solved by vigilant police officers engaged in traffic enforcement,” said Attorney General Harvey. “Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was apprehended when an Oklahoma patrol officer stopped his car because it lacked a license plate. In 1988, a New Jersey State Trooper foiled a terrorist plot when he discovered homemade bombs in the car of Japanese Red Army member Yu Kikumura after observing him acting suspiciously at a Turnpike rest stop. Traffic officers play a vital security role in our post 9-11 world.”

“In a post 9-11 environment, the approaches to traffic safety enforcement are changing,” says Roberto Rodriguez, Director of the Division of Highway Traffic Safety. “This regional conference will be addressing those developing concepts, and how they will impact communities. Much can be done to educate law enforcement and the public to maximize the benefits of traffic safety enforcement.”

Many topics will be covered during the three days of discussions, workshops, and plenary sessions, some of which include:

• Effectively dealing with traffic safety issues
• Trucks and terrorism
• Impaired driving enforcement
• Fraudulent documents
• Proactive media relations
• DWI courts
• Click it or Ticket
• You Drink and Drive. You Lose
  

Now more than ever, traffic enforcement is law enforcement. This three-day forum will be the platform for exhaustive research, experience and planning to ultimately protect and benefit the public.

The 2005 Eastern Region Police Leadership Conference runs Monday, February 28 to Wednesday March 2, 2005.