Oxford police step up school zone enforcement after speeding complaints

Oxford police stepped up school-zone enforcement along Sisk Avenue and Bramlett Boulevard after repeated complaints about drivers speeding past Bramlett Elementary School during the busiest parts of the school day.

Officers focused on the morning and afternoon windows when traffic is heaviest, from 7 to 9 a.m. and again from 2 to 4 p.m. That is when parents are dropping off children, buses are moving through the corridor and students are crossing near slow-moving cars, making even a small burst of speed a safety risk.

The department had already launched a traffic-safety program in January 2025 to curb the same problem. That effort used handheld radar devices with cameras to capture speed and license-plate information, and officers said drivers going more than 10 mph over the posted limit could receive warning citations in the first week of the rollout. After that first week, citations could be mailed rather than issued in a traffic stop. The department said the program was designed as a diversion model, so violations would not affect insurance rates or a driver’s record.

Chief Jeff McCutchen said Oxford police had received numerous complaints about speeding in those school zones. Police also said the same type of approach had worked in Hattiesburg, where visible enforcement helped slow drivers over time.

The stakes are high in Oxford because the school district serves more than 4,800 students across seven schools. Bramlett Elementary sits directly on Bramlett Boulevard, one of the corridors where officers have concentrated their patrols, and that makes the morning and afternoon commute especially sensitive for families trying to move children safely between cars and classrooms.

State law gives municipalities and counties the authority to set and enforce school-zone speed limits, and Mississippi Code § 63-3-515 allows those limits to apply only during specified times of day, days of the week and months of the year. Oxford police say the department has 91 sworn officers and more than 114 total staff, giving it the manpower to keep a visible presence in the zones when the school day starts and ends.

For Oxford parents and commuters, the message is straightforward: the school-day traffic pattern is under closer watch, and the city is signaling that the next few seconds behind the wheel could determine whether the drive to and from class stays routine or turns dangerous.