Dunteman: Police aren’t responsible for stopping street racing, but they’re trying anyway – Sioux Falls Live

Sioux Falls police are frustrated.

While solving shootings, assaults, drug offenses and other crimes continues, South Dakota’s largest law enforcement agency has made a special effort to stop another type of crime: street racing.

Lt. Andrew Siebenborn and Police Chief Jon Thum have long discussed the issue, but the reckless behavior of some car enthusiasts in the Sioux Falls area brought the issue to a boiling point this week with a fatal street racing accident.

In case you haven’t seen the headlines, a 35-year-old biker from Valley Springs was killed this week while racing another motorcyclist on North Sycamore Avenue. Traveling at over 100 mph, the biker crashed into a parked car and died.

“It should be noted that several people were in this area and observed this activity, parked on the side of the road in other vehicles,” Siebenborn said in a press conference Thursday morning.

It is the same place where at least 50 people were detained and eight arrested when police busted an illegal street racing circuit earlier this year.

Thum and Siebenborn say the problem of reckless driving, mock driving and outright street racing is nothing new in Sioux Falls, but additional efforts to curb this dangerous behavior have brought the problem to public attention.

The police have deployed several special patrols. They have issued more tickets than in recent years. They have spoken about it at press conferences. They have made arrests. Almost all media in Sioux Falls have reported on the police efforts.

But the behavior hasn’t stopped. Thum may have an idea why.

“Sometimes punishment is not enough to stop the behavior,” he said on Thursday.

That’s why his ministry will push for changes in the state’s laws. Think about mandatory minimum sentences. Think about revoking driving licenses.

Although Thum said the issue in Sioux Falls has not yet reached that point, other states, such as Wisconsin, allow the impounding or confiscation of a vehicle if the driver is caught driving recklessly.

Is this an overreaction? Maybe. Could it work? Possibly.

Regardless, Sioux Falls police are currently working and will continue to work with local prosecutors and state lawmakers to find a balance for new regulations that could reduce cases of aggressive, reckless and show driving and street racing. Thum advised keeping an eye on what happens in Pierre next year.

Sioux Falls is a fast-growing city. There is a lot of traffic that needs to be handled efficiently. But you can’t just plan for the present, you have to look to the future as well.

The result is overbuilt roads that remain largely unused. Veterans Parkway, for example, may be packed with commuters at 5 p.m., but by 2 a.m. it’s often completely empty.

The intersection where a street racer was killed this week is just about the most remote area you can find within the Sioux Falls city limits. It’s a T-intersection with a dead end to the south, the city’s water works to the north and the animal control center to the west.

If I were a street racer, this would certainly be the best place in town.

No matter what the law is, no matter what the punishment, the old adage still holds true: laws are made to be broken. And no matter how hard Sioux Falls’ finest try to fight it, it’s still going to happen.

“Ultimately, our goal with education is to make sure people know that this is a dangerous activity,” Thum said. “… Ultimately, with everything else going on and the growth of our community, we can’t cover every single inch of this community.”

Thum and Siebenborn have said it again and again: the problem lies in the behavior.

“Some of these sport bikes are designed to go over 120 miles per hour, which is not street legal anywhere,” Thum said. “I see that there is that urge, that desire, but when something like this happens, it has very tragic consequences, and we want to avoid tragedies. We don’t want people to lose their loved ones.”

“It comes down to a bit of personal preference,” said Siebenborn.

It is not the job of the police to stop street racing. It is the job of the people who participate in it.

A South Dakota native, Hunter joined Forum Communications in June 2021 as a reporter for the Mitchell (SD) Republic and now works as a digital reporter for Sioux Falls Live, focusing primarily on Sioux Falls crime and Lincoln County government.