He pulled over a driver for speeding, found he had his license revoked and upon search, Jordan confiscated 26 rocks of crack cocaine from the suspect’s pocket.

The Salisbury Police Department initiated the traffic unit— made of three full-time and one part-time officer — to stop speeders and intervene drug transport, among other things.

Jordan successfully met those goals on day one.

The traffic unit was added in response to citizen concern, according to Police Chief M.Chris Herring.

And with more traffic-related deaths in 1999 than homicide, Herring recognized the problem.

“Ninety-five percent of the crashes are operator error,” Jordan says.

After a crash

The mid-day sun beats off his sunglasses, as he drives down Statesville Boulevard. His first assignment is to assist with a crash investigation in front of Godley’s Garden Center.

He meets Officers Kevin Wilborn and Bill Higgins, also with the traffic patrol, at the scene.

Higgins reconstructs the collision for Jordan. A minivan was struck by a smaller car at a high rate of speed, Higgins explains.

He points out tire skid marks in the road that lead to large scrapes in the pavement. Shards of reflector stick to the road in patches of spilled oil.

Wilborn and Higgins have most of the work done, and Jordan heads off to cite more speeders.

“We’re trying to get it to catch on that it’s not an accident, it’s a crash. An accident is a freak, a freak of nature, something that wouldn’t normally happen.

“One major reason of accidents is inattention and speed,” Jordan said. “People are learning Spanish, checking their pagers, yelling at their kids.”

“As long as people follow the law, there wouldn’t be any crashes,” Jordan said.

And the speed limit is one law that motorists and “society” don’t take seriously.

Jordan attempts to pull over a white Lincoln Towncar traveling 51 mph in a 35 mph zone.

The blue lights go on and he speeds up to catch the car, which stopped at a light before turning right.

Jordan follows, this time activating his siren to get the driver’s attention.

The car stops at a stop sign.

But then it travels right through the intersection, still unaware of the officer’s pursuit.

Finally, Jordan fully activates his sirens and even gestures for the driver to pull over.

She does pull over in a parking lot and her excuse — “I was late for an appointment.”

“I’ve heard just about everything you can think of,” Jordan says.

Equipment check

With only 1,274 miles on the odometer, Jordan’s new patrol car has the most innovative and advanced technology available.

A state-of-the-art front and rear radar in the patrol car will help Jordan catch more speeders.

Traveling down Statesville Boulevard, a car speeds past in the opposite direction. Jordan turns on his lights and attempts to make a U-turn after the offender. But traffic continues to flow and his pursuit is slowed down. Once Jordan gets back in the right direction, the motorist has already escaped the ticket.

With the new radar, it is easier for officers to monitor the rate of speed of approaching motorists.

“We just use our mirrors to locate the speeder,” Jordan said. And the radar confirms it.

Immediate results

In two weeks before the implementation of the traffic unit, 92 tickets were issued to motorists. During the first two weeks the traffic unit has been at work, that number increased to 185 and 118 of those tickets were written specifically by the four traffic unit officers.

“There has been an insignificant difference in crashes,” Jordan said. “That will be something that will take time to change and we will have to measure six months down the road. Our goal is to reduce the crashes by 10 to 20 percent.”

Jordan said speeding is the most ticketed offense and he said most offenders are only cited with one offense.

Who is speeding?

Everybody.

Sitting on the side of Jake Alexander, Jordan takes a while to pull over a car only because he is explaining how the radar works.

Cars speed by, “See that little white car, he was going 50, he just saw me and slowed down.”

“I’ve been sitting here for five minutes and not one person has come by doing the speed limit.”

Jordan uses “he” to describe every motorist. Truth is, as the car passes, the female driver looks at the patrol car to make sure it is not pulling out.

“People say you pulled me over because I’m so and so,” Jordan says. “I don’t care if you’re black, white, male, female or polka-dot, if you speed, I’m going to pull you over.”

“We aren’t out to ‘get’ anybody. There’s too many people out there breaking the law,” Jordan said.

So what kind of car catches a cop’s attention? The red ones?

“The type of vehicle pulled over most, are the ones that speed,” Jordan says.

Minutes later, he pulls over a minivan traveling 59 in a 45.

“Do you think my speedometer is off then?” the driver asks officer Jordan.