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Traffic Enforcement Is All About Safety

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Traffic Enforcement

Is All About Safety

To the Editor:

I am writing this letter in response to a letter posted in The Bee last week that was entitled “Keeping Us Safe” [Letter Hive, June 20]. It was a mostly well-written letter, in which the writer expressed her concern over the frequent bomb scares that have taken place at our schools recently. However, where the writer goes astray is when she relates that several of her friends and family have suffered the “horror” of getting traffic tickets, and suggests that the current priority of our police is “collecting funds and filling quotas,” instead of “keeping us safe from bombs and break-ins and guns.”

For the record, I am not a Newtown police officer, but I am a police officer, and have been for almost eight years. I can’t tell you how many times in those years I have heard the common misconception that is again being perpetuated by this writer’s letter. Until last year, local police departments did not receive any revenue from the tickets issued by their officers. That money was paid to the State of Connecticut, and went into the general fund, where it could be spent in any manner seen fit by the state government. Recently, the law has been amended, and now for certain moving violations, the agency that issued the ticket gets a ten-dollar surcharge, but only if the violator does not contest the ticket in court. Secondly, to suggest that officers are filling quotas is just ignorant. From my own experience with two different police departments, we were encouraged to conduct motor vehicle stops, but it was never dictated to me that I had to issue tickets. Ask any police officer and they will tell you that traffic stops are the gateway to a whole laundry list of violations: drugs, guns, drunk drivers, active arrest warrants, etc. I would argue that getting drugs, guns, drunks, and felons off the street keeps the public safe.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the leading cause of death in 2005 for Americans in every age group from ages 3–6 and 8–34 was traffic accidents. In 2006, 42,642 Americans lost their lives on our roads, a rate of 14.2 per 100,000. By comparison, 17,034 Americans were victims of homicide in 2006, a rate of 5.7 per 100,000 (from the Uniform Crime Reports, compiled by the FBI). Can it still be argued that traffic enforcement shouldn’t be a priority of every police agency? Sadly, manpower shortages and financial burdens prevent most agencies from enforcing traffic laws as much as they would like.

 The writer does acknowledge that she cannot understand what police officers go through, having never been a police officer herself. With that thought in mind, I would encourage anyone with the time and interest to attend a Citizen’s Police Academy, which is held at many municipal police departments in Fairfield County, including Newtown. And remember that our ultimate goal is to keep ourselves and the general public safe.

David Payne

PO Box 287, Newtown                                                      June 18, 2008

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