Police Department Begin Summer Crosswalk Stings in Aurora, OR

It’s summer time again in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. As the amount of sun increases in town, so do the amount of people. And in the city of Aurora, OR so do the stings.

No, not the bee stings. These are police stings. But these are not ordinary police sting operations. These police ops are directed specifically at none other than one of three cross walks in town. Beware the lady standing on the edge of the sidewalk. If you don’t stop for her, you will be pulled over by the police officer waiting for you on one of the side streets. Every summer, as the weather gets warmer and people come to window shop the antique stores of Aurora, the Aurora Police Department begins its cross walk enforcement operations. Generally a Saturday afternoon is when you will see the “decoy”, dressed in a bright green shirt carrying a hand-held radio, walk back and forth across the same cross walk for hours at a time. You will also witness patrol cars pulling over violators in both directions of Highway 99E handing out a surplus of $95+ tickets. The day before the police cross walk sting takes place, signs will be placed on the side of the road, so vehicles traveling in both directions will see the warning, “Community Cross Walk Enforcement Tomorrow.” Drive through on the day of the operation, and you will see bright orange cones near the crosswalk, as if to say, “Hey! I’m here to get your attention!” But even with these “warnings”, many drivers are caught failing to yield the pedestrian. So if you have any plans to drive through the city of Aurora this summer, don’t blink. Not because it has a population of just over 600 and you might miss it, but also, you might just miss that lady dressed in a green shirt holding a police radio, stepping onto the road in front of you.