On June 20, DOT employees were working along the south side of U.S. Route 11 between North Bangor and the village of Brushton, cleaning out the ditch. They weren’t the only ones working there that day — the other agency working alongside the DOT was the State Police.

The initiative entailed State Police dressing up as construction workers in the DOT work zone. The camouflaged troopers identified work zone violations of vehicle and traffic laws and radioed ahead to troopers down the road, who then ticketed the drivers for the violations.

In the picture accompanying this column, the person dressed as a DOT worker is Technical Sergeant Shane Buckley from the Troop B Traffic Incident Management Unit in Ray Brook. Buckley and troopers from other Troop B units issued 71 tickets that day. The breakdown on citations includes:

— Speeding: 2

New York State Police Technical Sgt. Shane Buckley dresses as a construction worker for Operation Hardhat. (Photo provided)

— Seat belts: 22

— Cellphones: 4

–Other moving violations: 1

— Non-moving violations: 42

In addition to the 71 violations noted above, one commercial vehicle inspection resulted in 13 violations.

Non-moving violations include expired inspections or registrations, excessive tinting on vehicle windows, and several other possibilities.

In the second picture, one of the unsuspecting motorists was stopped and ticketed for not wearing a seatbelt by Trooper Jason Sheen, who is also assigned to the TIM unit based in Ray Brook.

In a similar operation in April of this year between exits 28 and 29 on the Northway (I-87), 61 tickets were issued for various violations including speeding. Drivers should expect more Operation Hardhat initiatives the rest of this summer and fall during the height of road construction.

Now that you have been warned, don’t allow your next stop to result in a ticket.