PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Law enforcement agencies in Iowa historically have operated with limited resources for conducting concentrated traffic enforcement efforts. Moreover, the state has not had a long tradition of multi-agency coordination of enforcement efforts, particularly across jurisdictions. The result has been a perception held by the general population that there has been a very low risk of receiving a citation for a traffic infraction—an attitude which has induced unlawful vehicle operating behavior, particularly along traffic corridors that pass through more than one jurisdiction.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The Coordinated Corridor Enforcement Initiative was implemented in 1995 to reduce unlawful behavior by motor vehicle operators along cross-jurisdictional traffic corridors. The objectives of the initiative included:

• Developing an awareness of, and commitment to, multi-agency enforcement efforts
• Providing resources to support agencies involved in multi-agency enforcement efforts
• Promoting aggressive multi-agency enforcement activities
• Encouraging recognition of successful, multi-agency law enforcement efforts
• Fostering ongoing, self-perpetuating multi-agency activities among participants

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
Iowa law enforcement agencies have enjoyed many years of successful collaboration in conducting joint safety checkpoints and other traffic safety activities. Moreover, many agencies had built upon this tradition of collaboration through implementation of Iowa's Special Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP).

Then, in 1995, while attending a traffic safety conference, law enforcement agencies were introduced to the concept of "saturation patrols" which promised to supply the missing link to successful reduction of unlawful, cross-jurisdictional driving behavior. Although enthusiastically embraced as a concept, Iowa agencies recognized that successful implementation depended on organizational structure, coordination of effort, guidance, and encouragement.

Help in implementing the saturation patrols came from the Iowa Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau (GTSB) which, in Spring 1995, organized the first multi-jurisdictional, coordinated corridor enforcement activity in the state. Planning for the saturation patrols began with a highly-focused problem identification exercise drawing on data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and from Iowa's sophisticated Personal Computer-Accident Location Analysis System (PC-ALAS). Armed with this important data, the job of selecting implementation activities became simple, needing only the guidance of the GTSB to facilitate a coordinated enforcement effort.

Two years after the initial saturation patrol effort, in the Summer of 1997, the GTSB organized a saturation patrol involving 116 officers from 37 agencies in 3 states—Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska—who patrolled 330 miles of a major interstate that bisected the states, resulting in 2,500 enforcement contacts. Today, the GTSB continues to provide important guidance; but the participating agencies, which include canine patrols, drug recognition officers, and officers from aircraft reconnaissance, now assume most of the leadership, planning, and execution of the patrols.