The number of traffic stops made by the UAF police department has more than doubled in the last year, police records show.

Since students began returning to campus, Aug. 21 to Sept. 21, the number of vehicles pulled over by university officers has gone up to 404 from just 176 during the same period in 2005, according to police statistics.

Lt. Syrilyn Tong of the UAFPD said there are multiple factors contributing to the increase in pullovers.

The primary reason is the participation of campus police in a two-part initiative that comes with two federal grants received by the state to focus on both drunk driving and wearing seatbelts.

"If you're drunk, don't be driving." Tong said.

The state received $161,728 in grants from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The grants fund programs with names recognizable from television commercials and awareness campaigns, such as "Click It or Ticket" and "You Drink, You Drive, You Loose."

Both campaigns are part of the Special Traffic Enforcement Program. STEP also includes days of high patrols focusing on holiday and weekend drivers, which are the most common times people drive buzzed. An additional part of the program is possible seat belt checkpoints, which have the potential for catching many drivers unaware of the new restraint law.

Since the passing of SB 86 in January, police officers have been able to pull over and ticket drivers who are traveling on Alaskan roadways without a visible safety restraint.

Not wearing a seat belt was already against the law, but before this year officers had to have another reason for initially stopping someone. Drunk driving, on the other hand, has always been illegal. It's a good law, Tong said.

"We're in this business to prevent accidents before they happen," she said. "People get hurt more when they're not wearing seat belts."

Some students who are aware of the new ticketing procedures, like sophomore wildlife biology major Kim Giles, feel like they might be able to avoid getting caught without a restraint.

"If I forget to put it on, I'll just pretend like I had it one the whole time but it was under my shoulder or something," Giles said.

Other students like psychology major Kelly Hartman are worried that the police now have more right to pull people over. Hartman remembered one encounter with police.

"It was ridiculous," she said. "I was pulled over twice by the same cop. Both times the cop followed me all the way to my house."

"But both times there was no ticket, no citation," Hartman added.

Laurii Woodruff, the fiscal officer for UAFPD, was quick to assure the students that the new policies weren't restricted to campus.

"It's not just here. It's every single law enforcement agency," Woodruff said.