ADOT and Department of Public Safety announce enforcement partnership

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation and the Department of Public Safety are entering into an agreement to streamline and enhance commercial vehicle enforcement at Arizona’s ports-of-entry located at interstate and international borders. 

Under this partnership, 89 sworn ADOT Enforcement officers and 49 non-sworn personnel will be assigned to the DPS Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Task Force on a full-time basis. This will enhance officer safety as well as increase efficiency and operational consistency for both agencies. 

The sworn ADOT personnel are uniformed officers certified by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board. They provide commercial vehicle safety compliance, size and weight enforcement, oversize and overweight permitting and other related enforcement services at ADOT ports-of-entry located near the state lines of California, New Mexico, Utah, and the international border with Mexico.

“ADOT and DPS have a longstanding and beneficial partnership that is dedicated to keeping our highways and freeways operating safely,” ADOT Director John Halikowski said. “Streamlining ADOT’s Enforcement Services Bureau with a single management structure is a better use of personnel, uses financial resources more wisely and strengthens public safety for everyone who travels Arizona’s roads.”

Col. Heston Silbert, Director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, said, “This will enhance border security at our ports of entry and provide consistent commercial vehicle enforcement to enhance the movement of intra and interstate commerce.”

The agreement is set to begin Jan. 8 for two years initially and after that is subject to annual renewal.