Motorists traveling on Lawrence County’s roads and highways have no idea what is inside the vehicles of other drivers but, based on recent arrests, there is certainly cause for concern.

Local law enforcement agencies have made a variety of recent traffic stops that have resulted in drug arrests, confiscation of drugs and money and even the apprehension of an alleged mobile methamphetamine lab.

Of course all individuals are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, but we applaud all those involved for these arrests because they are helping to make our streets safer — quite literally.

Law enforcement agencies need to strictly enforce our traffic laws that are designed to keep our communities safe. If an aggressive approach to this also results in catching individuals who are using Lawrence County as a conduit for drug trafficking, that is icing on the cake.

This doesn’t mean that authorities should profile motorists or stop individuals for no reason. The ultimate results should be that if you aren’t breaking the law then you won’t be impacted at all.

Traffic stops are dangerous situations for our men and women in law enforcement. They have no idea what could unfold as they approach a vehicle that is pulled off to the side of the road, but they do it just the same.

In the end, it is part of their job and most of Lawrence County’s police officers do it well.

We should be thankful for that because they are making our streets and our communities the kind of places we want to live.