Police Chief Joseph Sinagra said the department recently issued 60 warnings to motorists who failed to yield to an undercover police officer posing as a pedestrian at the intersection of Main and Washington. Tickets will be issued starting in November or December.
The warnings were part of the department’s recent pedestrian safety initiative. Officers have also issued warnings to jaywalking pedestrians.
During the recent operation, a police officer dressed in bright civilian clothing crossed back and forth from the Village Diner side of the street to the senior housing side and motorists who failed to stop for the man in the crosswalk were pulled over and issued a warning.
“This wasn’t entrapment,” Sinagra said. “Motorists were given ample warning time to stop when the pedestrian walked into the crosswalk.”
Sinagra said this was the first operation of its kind in the state of New York, although decoy police officers have been used for similar ones in neighboring New Jersey.