NASHVILLE (AP) — Emails obtained by WTVF-TV show a top official at the Tennessee Highway Patrol was worried that the cost of raids against Occupy Nashville protesters would hurt troopers' efforts to prevent traffic fatalities this holiday season.

More than 70 troopers participated in raids on successive nights last month, arresting 55 protesters for violating a newly imposed curfew on state Capitol grounds. THP Col. Tracy Trott said afterward that the operation wouldn't cost the state any extra money in terms of overtime.

But Lt. Col. Derek Stewart in the email warned that without overtime approval, troopers "could lose a great deal of momentum" in lowering the fatality rate on the roads.

Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons said after the first raid that the state couldn't afford to patrol the protester encampment.