3 local agencies partner up for Operation CARE

HENRY COUNTY, Tenn. — One local sheriff’s office is teaming up with their police department and the Tennessee Highway Patrol for a new initiative after multiple crashes turned fatal on one main highway.

It’s called CARE, or Critical Care Accident Reduction Enforcement.

Highway 69A connects Big Sandy to Paris and is almost always busy.

“You know it’s curvy, hilly, it doesn’t have any shoulder. It’s a very difficult road to work and enforce,” THP Sgt. Andy Forsythe said.

Forsythe said between 2012 and 2016, there was only one fatal crash on Highway 68. But just in the first few months of this year, they have already had three fatal crashes.

“It’s high-volume traffic at peak times of the day,” Henry County Sheriff Monte Belew said. “So what we will be doing in a joint effort between all three agencies is doing Operation CARE. Basically that is going to be directed patrol and directed enforcement in those areas.”

Law enforcement has already been saturating Highway 69, and they will be posting signs making sure drivers are aware of CARE.

“Stationary and moving radar — this enforcement effort will be conducted by not only cars and trucks but motorcycles as well,” Sheriff Belew said.

Authorities said they will stay focused on Highway 69 until the end of the summer. Then they will reevaluate and may saturate another area of the county.