ARLINGTON, Wash. — As students return to classrooms, the Arlington Police Department (APD) is ramping up efforts to keep children safe through its Operation Safe Stop campaign.
The initiative combines education, outreach, and enforcement around school zones, crosswalks, and bus stops as children walk, bike, ride buses, and travel to and from school.
According to the City of Arlington, Operation Safe Stop is designed to help drivers reacclimate to school-zone speed limits, school bus stop-arm laws, and increased pedestrian activity near schools.
Officers provide visible patrols around schools and selected bus stops, as well as educate the public about traffic safety laws and enforce violations.
City officials say during the first three weeks of the school year, APD officers dedicated more than 60 hours to school-zone enforcement and high-visibility patrols in and around Arlington schools, in addition to routine patrol operations.
Officers made more than four times as many school-zone-related traffic stops during that period than they did in the first three weeks of the 2025–26 school year. Those contacts included driver education and enforcement when warranted.
KIRO 7 rode along with APD on Tuesday as officers patrolled school zones throughout the city.
APD Commander Peter Barrett said officers are focused on reducing dangerous driving behaviors.
“We’re looking to drive down behavior that can include distracted driving, speeding in school zones, failing to stop at crosswalks,” Barrett said. “We need people to start operating their vehicles in a safer manner — to keep our kids safe.”
During the ride-along, officers monitored traffic near Haller Middle School and stopped drivers who were speeding through school-zone areas.
Officer Andrew Goedl told one driver that while a citation was an option, his primary goal was behavior change.
“I could write you a ticket for like 260 bucks, but what I want you to do is slow down,” Goedl said.
Police also monitored bus stops where children wait for transportation each day. Barrett said one of the most common concerns reported to the department involves drivers illegally passing stopped school buses.
“We get a lot of the complaints about people failing to stop for school buses with the lights activated and stop paddle out,” Barrett said. “Our goal really is to try and shift and stop bad driving in advance of this. So that’s where the education component comes in.”
Officers also visited Kent Prairie Elementary School, where parents and educators say unsafe driving has been a recurring problem.
“There has been times where, in this intersection specifically, we would be crossing children, and people would still try and go through the intersection while we were right in the middle of it,” said Heather Watland, a student teacher at the elementary school.
Watland said a crossing guard narrowly avoided being struck by a vehicle last school year.
“We almost had one of the crossing guard ladies who’s out there right now get hit by a car last year. The car touched her body. She wasn’t hurt, but it was that close of a call,” Watland said.
Barrett said the department’s message to drivers is simple: slow down, stay alert and eliminate distractions behind the wheel.
“I think the most important thing that we can ask from the public, from our residents, is to model safe driving behavior,” Barrett said. “Probably the greatest measure of success is that every student arrives to and back home from school safely,” Barrett said.
As part of the program, Arlington police have also created an online nomination portal where residents can report ongoing concerns. Residents can submit non-emergency school-zone, bus-stop, and student travel-route concerns through Operation Safe Stop at:
The new Operation Safe Stop reporting portal has received multiple reports since it opened. About half of those reports identified unsafe driving concerns in the Kent Prairie school zone. The reports are being reviewed to help the department identify recurring concerns and prioritize future patrol, education, and enforcement efforts.
“The portal is still new, but the initial reports are helping us understand where residents are seeing recurring concerns,” said city spokesperson Mandy Kruger. “That information will help guide future visibility, education, and enforcement efforts in school zones.”
©2026 Cox Media Group
