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They can sit for hours on some days and not see a thing.
No speeding or seat belt violations, all drivers using their turn signals to switch lanes, everyone is courteous and follows traffic laws to the letter.
Other days, like Wednesday, rigs blow by red lights on U.S. 30 as if they aren't there.
Warsaw Police Department Ptl. Brad Kellar regularly signs up for selective enforcement - patrolling U.S. 30 within city limits - on off-duty hours.
On Wednesday, with me along, he issued citations for disregarding automatic traffic signals to four semi-tractor/trailer drivers within 1-1/2 hours.
Kellar, 23, usually works third shift.
He charged down the federal highway at 80 miles per hour to pull over the violators on two occasions, a harrowing experience in heavy traffic along the two-lane highway.
He wore a remote microphone so his conversations could be heard inside the squad car.
"I know I'm guilty," came one driver's voice over the device, "but I don't want it on my record."
None of them wanted it on their record. To commercial driver's licenses, traffic offenses not only carry stiff fines - as the points add up, the CDLs can be suspended for 30 days and a man can lose his livelihood.
"We're increasing enforcement through here," Kellar explained to each driver. "It's really important you obey the signals. There have been a lot of fatal accidents through here."
Selective enforcement of U.S. 30 has resulted in 657 warnings and 294 summons or tickets from mid-May to Dec. 31, according to WPD records. Ten custodial arrests were made during that time.
Kellar has a multitude of hidey-holes where he monitors traffic along U.S. 30.
The front seat of the squad car is awash with technology - mounted cameras, a laptop computer, a tiny video screen, radios, microphones and an array of other paraphernalia designed to protect, aid and inform the patrolman.
Red-light violators, Kellar said, are mostly out-of-towners. On Wednesday, three Illinois drivers were stopped, one licensed in Wisconsin, one from Michigan and one from California (the last two were speeding).
Vehicles that entered the intersection on a yellow light that turned red were allowed to go on their way. Cross traffic hadn't begun to advance.
It was the truly blatant violators who were pursued and pulled over.
Wednesday they all just happened to be commercial drivers.
Each traffic stop took at least 20 minutes. One stop resulted in an arrest (that's another story) that took an hour to process.
With seven intersections to monitor from CR 250E to CR 150W, an officer can't be everywhere all the time.
Waiting in the left-hand turn lane at U.S. 30 and CR 250E, Kellar was discussing the impossible answer to the old question, "Where is a cop when you need one?" when a tractor/trailer slipped through the tail-end of a yellow light.
Drivers about to enter the intersection still had their feet on brake pedals. Kellar let it go.
The skimmer was immediately followed by two more semis, the second following the first so closely it would have been impossible to for him to see the red light.
The lights and sirens came on and the patrol car that was facing east one second was racing west the next.
Stopping two semis is a tricky situation. Kellar pulled up between them, horn blaring.
After pulling off the road behind the second rig, the first driver decided to go on his way.
Kellar radioed in the situation. It just so happened WPD Ptl. Bryan Sherwin was seconds away and put the stops to the first driver.
The semi driver Kellar talked to said he couldn't see the light until it was too late. He admitted he was following too closely. Tractor/trailers are supposed to travel a distance of 300 feet apart.
Kellar explained he could've cited the second driver for also following too closely and didn't.
Patrolmen can't be every where every minute, but Wednesday, one was where he needed to be at least four times.
How many drivers ran red lights at other intersections is hard to tell.
Patrolmen were in evidence on and off the highway throughout Kellar's selective hours.
As the WPD increases its presence on U.S. 30, maybe the road will become less dangerous.
That's the hope of the police department and the thousands of drivers who use the thoroughfare.
