CHP: Increase In Illegal Drug, Gun Busts In Truckee

California Highway Patrol Officers in Truckee say they are making a lot more busts with no increase in manpower or expenses.

An average of 40,000 vehicles a day travel over Interstate 80 through Truckee. Some carry illegal guns, money and drugs. In November, the CHP captain in charge of the Truckee office issued a challenge to officer -- during routine traffic stops, ask more questions.

That month, seizures of illegal guns and money spiked. 240-pounds of marijuana, 2 pounds of meth, hundreds of doses of illegal medications, more than 17-thousand dollars of drug money and loaded weapons were confiscated. CHP Officer Pete Mann is surprised.

“In the five years I have been in CHP Truckee, I haven’t seen the amount of dope come off our highway that we have seen in the last month and a half," Mann says.

Mann says the one thing officers are doing differently is talking to people in greater detail. They talk not only about why drivers were stopped about where they are going, travel plans and they act on answers that raise suspicions.