BRODHEAD — Brodhead police made 44 traffic stops in four hours last week, including the arrest of one driver, as part of a state-funded “high visibility traffic enforcement deployment” in and around the city.

The four-hour traffic enforcement campaign Friday evening, June 28, was conducted in cooperation with officers from the Green County Sheriff’s Office, Rock County Sheriff’s Office, New Glarus Police Department and Belleville Police Department.

Brodhead police issued 26 traffic warnings and 25 traffic citations during the campaign, according to Brodhead Chief of Police Chris Hughes.

One of the stops led to the arrest of an Albany man.

Bailey James Stephen, 22, was stopped for loud exhaust at 7:19 p.m. in the 2000 block of 1st Center Avenue and arrested on a second-offense charge of operating while under the influence of a drug. He was also charged with marijuana possession. The Brodhead K-9 unit and a drug recognition expert deputy from Rock County assisted in the stop.

This is the fifth year Brodhead police have participated in the multi-jurisdictional traffic safety campaign, made possible through grant funding from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Safety.

The goal is to change “negative driving behaviors through education and enforcement, with an emphasis on voluntary compliance from drivers,” according to Hughes. “The more often such deployments are held, the more likely positive driving behaviors become a habit.”