By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Police Chief Mark LaBrake says the unusually high numbers of vehicle and traffic tickets his officers hand out is a method to counteract illegal drug sales.

“That’s a traffic stop so we can stop and identify people,” LaBrake said at the Massena Drug Free Coalition’s Thursday “Let’s Take Back Our Community” forum. “You might think it’s a cheesy tactic … it’s a very good source of information for us.”

As has been reported in the NorthCountryNow.com police blotter, some weekends see as many as a dozen traffic citations handed out over a two- or three-day period. Neighboring communities, such as Potsdam, rarely hand out more than one or two per day and sometimes go long periods of time without ticketing any motorists.

LaBrake said his patrols target areas where there is suspected drug activity.

“We issue a lot of tickets in those areas,” LaBrake said. “Some people don’t like how we do it.”

He noted that a lot of citations officers make are “fix-it” tickets, meaning something simple like a headlight or plate lamp out. The tickets can be dismissed from court once the vehicle owner shows they’ve corrected the problem.