San Diego Reader

The La Mesa Police Department is once again comparing the issuing of tickets to directly saving the lives of the drivers caught engaging in potentially deadly behaviors while behind the wheel.

Last Friday, officers engaged in the second “Traffic Safety Enforcement Program” campaign in as many weeks, this time focusing on distracted driving.

Officers wrote a total of 45 tickets, including 32 for talking or texting on a cell phone while driving and another 13 for unspecified “hazardous driving violations,” plus issued 13 more warnings in a six-hour span, resulting in “32 lives saved,” according to police chief Ed Aceves, named on a release touting the operation’s results.