Officers Participate in Operation Guthrie’s Shield to Support Coworker Officers assigned to the Gwinnett County Police Department’s Central Precinct organized and participated in a traffic enforcement detail to support an officer who has been hit by two drunk drivers.
Master Police Officer Ashley Guthrie has been struck by drunk drivers on two separate occasions while working on Interstate 85 and Highway 316. In each of these accidents, her patrol vehicle was totaled. Despite each incident, MPO Guthrie has continued to shine in her profession and has used the crashes as inspiration to conduct increased traffic enforcement.
On January 16 and 17, officers at the Central Precinct organized Operation Guthrie’s Shield, which was an intense traffic detail focused on Georgia’s move over law. The law requires drivers approaching an emergency vehicle with their lights activated to use due caution and absent of any other direction by a peace officer, proceed to make a lane change to a lane that is not adjacent to the emergency vehicle. If a lane change is not possible during the existing traffic conditions, drivers should reduce their speed to a reasonable and proper speed for the existing road and traffic conditions, which shall be less than the posted speed limit.
During the five-hour detail, officers conducted 51 traffic stops and wrote 15 “move over” citations, 29 speeding citations, and 26 other traffic related citations. They also made a DUI arrest. The detail was focused on Interstate 85 and Highway 316 and utilized the department’s helicopter.
These details are a way to spread education and awareness to the public. They also highlight the dangers of conducting traffic enforcement on busy highways and interstates at night.
