Park City police officers in the seven days that ended on Sunday pulled over at least 167 drivers in what appeared to be a significant stepping up of traffic patrols as the ski season ended.

The department, though, contended the numbers did not represent a major increase from a typical seven-day period. The police also said the traffic stops during the period were not part of a special operation targeting speeders and drivers violating other traffic laws.

Phil Kirk, the police captain who oversees the patrol division, acknowledged that the officers are not as busy responding to calls as the ski season ends. Officers frequently must deal with cases involving drunkenness, loud partiers, disorderly people and stolen skis or snowboards during the ski season. The sharp drop in those sorts of calls after the ski season leaves more time for them to conduct traffic patrols, he said.

“We encourage our officers to work traffic when they have free time,” Kirk said.

Police logs show that the officers pulled over drivers on major streets and on ones in the neighborhoods. There were clusters of traffic stops at some points as the officers pulled over drivers at a rate of one every few minutes, according to the logs.

Some of the clusters of stops included:

  • seven drivers being pulled over in a little more than 50 minutes in the middle of the afternoon on April 12. The stops were on streets like Park Avenue and Kearns Boulevard.
  • 10 drivers being pulled over in just less than an hour on April 13. Some of the cases were on S.R. 224, Kearns Boulevard and Park Avenue, and the cases were reported in the evening.
  • six drivers being pulled over the course of a little less than one hour, 20 minutes in the evening on April 12.
  • six drivers being stopped in a little less than two hours on April 14.

    “Hard-working police officers,” Kirk said.

    Officers are often seen conducting traffic patrols on the streets where some of the clusters of stops were reported. They are also sometimes seen on neighborhood streets like lower Park Avenue and Marsac Avenue.

    Kirk said the Police Department had not received complaints in the last week about the amount of traffic patrols.

    Kirk said less than one-third of the drivers who are pulled over in Park City, on average, receive tickets. The rest are either warned verbally or receive a written warning, he said.

    Police leaders have long said the department does not operate under a quota system that requires officers to stop a certain number of drivers in a specified period. The officers instead are expected to be productive at times when they are not responding to a call.

    Parkites for years have lodged complaints about speeding drivers, particularly on neighborhood streets. The police have responded over the years with wider enforcement while City Hall has taken measures like installing digital speed signs that display how fast a driver is traveling.