– by Janelle Goodrich

When Officer Jordan Mook talks about traffic safety, his eyes light up the way most people do when discussing a favorite hobby. It’s a passion born far from Charlotte’s multi-lane arteries, on the quiet backroads of small-town Wisconsin where “rush hour” meant a tractor and maybe a wayward cow.

“I never imagined ending up in a big city,” he laughs, recalling his move south after a stint in Virginia corrections. Family ties—and a retired CMPD officer who spotted his potential—pulled him to Charlotte in 2018. What kept him here was something else entirely: the puzzle of traffic.

More Than a Moving Violation

To Mook, every collision report is a breadcrumb leading to bigger insights. He pores over NCDOT heat maps, memorizes the injury stats at Harris & Tryon, and can tell you exactly why the curve on Mallard Creek Road feels like a pinball flipper. Armed with that data, he persuades city engineers to reinstall missing stop signs within days and battles for saner speed limits on stretches that still read 55 mph despite apartment driveways and bus stops.

“It’s not about writing tickets,” he insists. “It’s about preventing the knock on a family’s door at 2 a.m.” He knows the stakes firsthand: within a single month, his wife survived three separate crashes—two caused by distracted or speeding drivers. “That changes you,” he says quietly. “You realize every choice behind the wheel ripples through someone’s life.”

Carrots, Sticks, and Checkpoints

Mook’s methods mix classic enforcement with creative outreach:

• Flash-mob checkpoints – One Friday night on Pavilion Boulevard, his ad-hoc team stopped over 2,000 cars, netting DUIs but also praise from surprised college students who’d “never seen this before.”
• Adopt-a-Stop-Sign – Residents email CMPD’s community coordinators; Mook shows up at 7 a.m. with radar in hand. Word spreads quickly, and rolling stops plummet.
• School-house roadshows – This year he’s pitching assemblies at local high schools, pairing candid crash stories with the physics of momentum. “If you’re late for class, 10 mph faster won’t help you graduate,” he quips.
  

A “Speed Whisperer” in Action

Watch him on patrol and you’ll notice small things: the way he positions a cruiser to shield a stopped car from highway traffic, or how he slips a safety tip into even the sternest citation. Drivers may grumble, but many send thank-you emails later—grateful, perhaps, that their next run-in might have been far worse.

Fun Facts for the Road

• Favorite off-duty ride: A 20-year-old sedan (“It keeps me humble—and under the limit”).
• Proposed slogan for a heat-map newsletter: “Slow Down, University City—Your Future Self Will Thank You.”
• Secret ambition: Convincing every neighborhood HOA to host a radar-gun block party—kids clocking Dad’s minivan might just reform him forever.

Why It Matters

Charlotte is one of America’s fastest-growing cities, and University City sits at the crossroads of commuters, college traffic, and freight corridors. The difference between chaos and community often comes down to a few smart interventions—better lighting on Harris Boulevard, a lowered limit on North Tryon, or a single officer who believes data plus compassion can save lives.

“People think traffic is boring,” Mook says. “But if you can shave five miles an hour off a busy road, crash severity drops like a rock. That’s not boring—that’s lifesaving math.”

So the next time a blue-lit checkpoint interrupts your evening or a fresh speed-feedback sign flashes SLOW DOWN, remember: behind it is an officer who’s run the numbers, heard the sirens, and chosen to be the calm voice reminding us all that the quickest way home is sometimes the slower one.