Police Are Out in Full Force Near Campuses : Simi Valley: Traffic officers form a roving cordon around the city’s school zones. Violators face stiff penalties.

Speeding heedlessly through a Simi Valley school zone Thursday morning, the van driver never had a chance.

With three police cruisers clustered around busy crosswalks at Madera Elementary School on Royal Avenue, one was bound to nail her.

“Oh yeah, I got her,” Patrol Officer Donald Anderson said later after pulling the woman over and writing her a $108 ticket for excessive speed. He chuckled, recalling, “She says, ‘Where did you come from?’ ”

Ordering “maximum deployment” for the first day of school, Simi Valley police commanders surrounded the city’s school zones with a roving cordon of 14 cruisers and motorcycles.

It was more than double the usual traffic patrol.

Police were looking for anyone who ignored speed limits, crossing guards, flashing school bus lights or--most important--children in crosswalks.

“We do it every year to give people an additional reminder that school is starting,” said Lt. Jon Ainsworth, head of the traffic division. “We look for kids who aren’t paying attention, bicyclists who are goofing around, parents who maybe aren’t paying attention because their summer routine has suddenly changed.”

More than 18,000 students--many with parents in tow--streamed into the city’s 34 public, private and parochial schools Thursday in little more than an hour.

The resulting sluggish traffic and teeming crosswalks were sometimes too much to bear for impatient motorists on Cochran Street and Los Angeles and Royal avenues, Ainsworth said.

“There are an awful lot of people who use these major arterials who don’t have kids, and all of a sudden school starts and the arterials are slower, and they get caught in traffic,” he said. “It can cause some frustration,” he said, and some motorists are tempted to blow past guards, 25-m.p.h. speed limits and flashing bus lights.

One driver drove through a crosswalk Thursday, nearly hitting a crossing guard on Cochran Street, said Sgt. Jeff Malgren. Seeing this, a patrol officer gave up chasing one motorist for an illegal U-turn and caught the crosswalk scofflaw to issue a ticket, Malgren said.

The penalties are stiff: Failing to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk--$104. Driving past a crossing guard in a crosswalk--$135. Driving past flashing red school bus lights--$405.

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On Thursday, Simi Valley officers issued five tickets for speeding, two tickets for disobeying a crossing guard and three more for failing to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk, Malgren said. Police also wrote a handful of $100 jaywalking tickets--mostly to students failing to use crosswalks as they left Simi Valley High in the afternoon, he said.

The main purpose of flooding the school areas with patrol units is to be visible and make drivers focus on the laws, Ainsworth said.

“Anybody who sees a black-and-white is reminded to all of a sudden look at their speedometer, make sure they have their seat belt on and watch what they’re doing,” he said.

School-area traffic patrols are expected to continue in Simi for about two weeks, Malgren said.