Prescott Valley police and traffic engineering staff urged residents to use data and the town hotline to report speeding, impaired driving and roadway hazards, and previewed a major Glassford Hill widening project that officials expect to bid this fall. Police Chief Bob Teiser, Sergeant Sean Caswell and Town Traffic Engineer Parker Murphy discussed the town’s “3 E’s” approach — education, enforcement and engineering — during a town-produced PBN Focus program.

The discussion matters because town officials tied everyday enforcement and engineering changes to measurable safety outcomes and said residents’ reports help direct resources. “It’s about education, enforcement, and engineering,” Teiser said, framing the program. The panel described how engineered changes, targeted enforcement and increased training have produced clearer crash data and more DUI casework.

Caswell, who supervises the Prescott Valley Police Department traffic unit, said the unit includes five officers, four of whom are assigned to motorcycles. “We are comprised of comprised of 5 officers. 4 of those officers are, assigned to motorcycles,” he said, adding the unit uses both marked and unmarked cars to catch habitual aggressive drivers. He described the department’s use of “unmarked” or “aggressive driver” vehicles to deter speeding and to catch drivers who avoid marked patrol cars.

Murphy described the engineering side: “We take that into account, volume, speed, everything that we need to, you know, determine something new that needs to happen to an old way existing roadway.” He said engineering tools include adding or changing signs, adding striping and edge lines, and changing speed limits. As an example, Murphy said edge lines were added on Old Black Canyon in the Raven Ridge area to visually narrow travel lanes that had been about 16 feet wide down to roughly 11.5–12 feet.

The hosts discussed the town’s data devices. Murphy said the town uses radar devices and tube counters (sometimes called “black boxes”) that record volume, speed and time-of-day patterns. “Part of the data that we get gives time of day and can see, okay, we have people going 60… between 5 and 6,” Murphy said; Caswell said that data helps the department place officers when speeding or other problems are most frequent.

The panel also discussed impaired driving and training. Caswell said a departmental effort to improve DUI investigations and officer training has increased DUI case filings: “I my personal opinion, I think that's why we're up 30%.” He described training upgrades including field sobriety test (FST) certification, ARIDE (Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement) training and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) certification among officers in the unit.

On larger capital work, Murphy said the Glassford Hill widening is the town’s biggest project underway. “So it's gonna be 3 lanes in each directions, from Long Look all the way to 89,” Murphy said, adding the design is wrapping up and officials hope to go to bid this fall. He said Glassford Hill currently carries about 24,000 to almost 30,000 vehicles a day and that the third lane is intended to address high traffic volumes in the main north–south connector.

The speakers encouraged public reporting of traffic concerns. Teiser directed residents with local traffic complaints to call the department at 772-9261 and press extension 2 for the hotline; Caswell added that suspected impaired drivers should be reported to 911. Caswell described the hotline intake process: complaints are not monitored 24 hours, staff follow up with reporting parties, and the department uses the information together with automated counts to plan responses.

No formal policy vote or ordinance was taken during the recorded program; the session was an informational discussion. The presenters said the town’s pavement maintenance program will begin work in coming weeks into October and that the Glassford Hill project design is finishing ahead of a planned fall bid. Officials asked residents to report roadway problems so staff can collect data and determine whether engineering changes or targeted enforcement are appropriate.

Notes: speakers repeatedly emphasized that enforcement alone cannot solve traffic problems; engineering changes and community reporting are part of the strategy.