Operation Southern Slow Down is underway in five southeastern states, including here in Tennessee. The operation is an effort to stop the increase of people driving over the speed limit.

The operation that lasts until July 24.

Tennessee Office of Highway Safety says speeding drivers are almost three times more likely to be involved in fatal or serious-injury crashes.

During the speed enforcement and education campaign, state troopers and local law enforcement officers will conduct concentrated enforcement on interstates and state highways in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

This comes after law enforcement agencies reported a substantial increase in vehicles traveling at speeds above 100 miles per hour in the last two years.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and THSO, speed was a factor in 29 percent of total traffic fatalities in the nation in 2020, which was a three percent increase from the previous year.

A THSO spokesperson said over four years, Operation Southern Slow Down reported a 14 percent reduction in speed-related traffic deaths from the week before to the week of the campaign.

The National President of Mothers Against Drunk Driving reacting to two Knoxville Police officers being arrested on two separate alleged drunk driving incidents.

Alex Otte says when it occurs in situations where people have taken a responsibility to protect and serve our community and they’re the ones who are making the choice to bring potential harm to it, she’s disappointed.

Otte pointed back to the families of victims they work with day in and day out, as people who know what the deadly impact of drunk driving is like.

”We know drinking and driving is not an accident, it’s a choice and people who make this deliberate choice are doing so knowing that they’re taking the lives of others into their hands and choices have consequences,” Otte said.

As an organization that focuses on education and holding impaired drivers to the highest letter of the law, Otte said that doesn’t change even when it’s police officers that are involved.

”You know this is something we expect drunk driving to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and we expect people who make this deadly choice to be held accountable,” Otte said.

Otte added MADD still believed law enforcement was the organization’s front line of defense and this situation didn’t mean all police are bad.

”We know this situation is not indicative of law enforcement we know our law enforcement is our number one line of defense but for these officers who make this choice I just want you to understand these choices hurt people and they kill people,” Otte said.

Knoxville Police Chief Paul Noel says that both officers will have their police powers suspended and that they will be reassigned from the Patrol Division. An investigation into these incidents is on-going.

Story courtesy of WVLT

A Georgia man is facing multiple child molestation charges after being arrested in Pigeon Forge.

67 year-old Dennis Dewayne Dockery was arrested after a two-month long manhunt.

Dockery was originally arrested in August 2021 on multiple counts of child molestation. The charges stemmed from a local investigation that revealed that Dockery may have been molesting since 2002.

Dockery had reportedly tampered with his ankle monitor and fled to the East Tennessee area in May.

Dockery was arrested without incident but he did have a loaded gun in his waistband at the time. He was taken to the Sevier County jail.