Indiana police sideline 29 truck drivers in three-day Operation BASH

Indiana State Police wrapped up a three-day enforcement project in Northwest Indiana that put 29 commercial drivers and 30 commercial vehicles out of service. The operation, designated BASH and conducted September 22-24, was named in honor of Trooper Benjamin Beers, Trooper Paul Arnold, LaPorte County Deputy Jon Samuelson, and ISP Sgt. Justin Heflin, who were involved in officer-involved shootings this summer.

The blitz was aimed at violent crime and aggressive driving, but truck inspections were a heavy part of the effort: troopers conducted 104 truck inspections and logged 340 violations. Across the whole operation, officers issued 989 citations, wrote 1,446 warnings, investigated 53 crashes, and made 62 arrests — including 19 drug-related arrests, 26 O.W.I. arrests, and arrests for other offenses. Fifteen warrants were served.

Personnel from every ISP district took part, along with specialty units including Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division inspectors, SWAT, the Mustang high-performance vehicle unit, investigators, and the Drug Enforcement Section. Troopers were involved in two vehicle pursuits that crossed state lines into Illinois, leading to the arrests of three serious violent felons, two of them armed with firearms. Indiana State Police Superintendent Anthony Scott called it "an unprecedented level of collaboration" and said the agency will keep evaluating enforcement trends to plan future operations.

Why it matters

Statewide blitzes like this put far more troopers on the road than normal, and commercial vehicles get extra attention when they do. Make sure your hours, brakes, lights, and paperwork are clean before you run through Indiana — 104 inspections in three days means the odds of getting waved in went way up.