TEMPE, Ariz. — It was happening every weekend across the Valley during the pandemic when few people were on the roads: Hundreds of street racers taking over intersections doing donuts, burnouts and in some cases, hitting people who were watching.
"I've seen so many people getting hit by cars that are involved in these takeovers," said Sergeant Matt Barker with the Tempe Police Department.
Barker is part of the City's Night Traffic Squad that responds to these dangerous incidents to shut them down. He said it takes several resources and multiple departments.
"It's a lot of resources," Barker said. "There's hundreds of cars fleeing at every different direction."
Some Barker said even go into opposite lanes of traffic at speeds higher than 100 miles per hour just to get away from law enforcement.
Tempe started working with other Valley agencies including Phoenix, Mesa, the Department of Public Safety and others to handle these situations. Barker said multiple arrests and vehicles getting told were happening on a nightly basis through that collaboration.
Eventually, the number of takeovers went down significantly. Since March 2024, Barker said there hasn't been a single one in Tempe.
"One of the key elements is just enforcement and coming together with other agencies and making sure there are consequences for those who are on the roadways," Barker said.
Phoenix police are also seeing a decline, according to Sergeant Ladd Bangerter with the Department's Street Racing Task Force.
"We're seeing far, far fewer takeovers," Bangerter said.
Data provided to 12News showed criminal speed and racing citations decreased in 2023 compared to 2022.
"The key for us is persistence, and to have that persistence, you have to have a squad that's working this on a permanent basis," Bangerter said.
While takeovers have stopped, both departments said street racing continues. Barker said in some cases it's moved to private property which Tempe is now working with homeowners to address.
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