To the editor:
Are traffic concerns a nonissue for the police department? I’ve seen several patrol cars watching blatant violations and doing nothing. It seems that one traffic officer could generate lots of cash while simultaneously making us all safer. The traffic laws seem to be a joke.
Comments
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merrill (anonymous) says…
Put the LPD motorcycles in service....
gl0ck0wn3r (anonymous) says…
Yes, the city should implement a $1000 per landscape job tax to pay for motorcycle police. Perhaps a $.10 per cut-and-paste word from Merrill as well.
Jimo (anonymous) says…
Does Mr. Kelly have any idea of the expense of hiring, paying, and training each police officer, let alone the opportunity cost to deploying them to traffic duty? Whatever the merits of Mr. Kelly's 'zero tolerance' approach to traffic regulations, generating "lots of cash" is NOT one of them.
honeychild (Mel Briscoe) says…
y'all should hire some of salina's finest. i tell ya-- the best traffic cops ever! and that's about ALL they do.
jbiegs (anonymous) says…
I recently moved to Topeka from Salina and Mel isn't kidding. They will get you for anything and everything while you are behind the wheel. But that is about as far as their service to the community extends. they will allow a bar fight to go on across the street while they write a ticket for failure to use turn signal. lol! not kidding!
cheeseburger (anonymous) says…
I like glock's idea, but how could we possibly spend ALL that money?
mr_right_wing (anonymous) says…
No win situation for LPD...
They don't stop people they get complaints "Why aren't they doing something!!"
They do stop people they get complaints "They have nothing better to do than stop me on a traffic violation? I guess they just ignore the serious life and death stuff!!"
WHY (anonymous) says…
LJW needs a new policy limiting Letters to the Editor about traffic complaints, like maybe a zero tolerance approach.
BlackVelvet (anonymous) says…
I saw someone run a stop sign once, and an LPD car was parked across the intersection. However, the Officer was writing a report or something, because he was looking down. Perhaps he didn't see the violation? Is it possible, dear letter writer, that an officer simply didn't see the violation that you did?
somebodynew (anonymous) says…
Well, IF this is the Mr. Kelly I am thinking of, maybe he is just not getting enough clients, so he wants ticket writting to go up.
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
Are traffic concerns a nonissue for the police department? I’ve seen several patrol cars watching blatant violations and doing nothing. It seems that one
---uh, the "patrol cars" are watching? I think KevnK has more serious problems!
mr. rightwing is right: d---d if they do and d----d if they don't.
did it occur to you Mr. Jack Webb Kelly that you could have taken down the license plates and phoned them in yourself?
oh I thought not. you're too busy worrying about patrol cars that can watch, and even fill out reports. do you live in a dimension of which I am as yet unknowledgeable?
UNIKU (anonymous) says…
Somebodynew took the words right out of my mouth. Get the cops to write more tix and his client base goes up and his slimy yellow pages ad starts working for him.
notwhatyouthink (anonymous) says…
It doesn't do any good to write tickets when the judge just finds them not guilty no matter what. I was in court once (yes I derserved it) and after the short trial the judge said although the city proved it's case he was going to find the driver not guilty because he took the time to come to court.
rdragon (M. Lindeman) says…
merrill (anonymous) says…
Put the LPD motorcycles in service....
rdragon writes:
You know merrill they used to a few years ago. When it was warm they would be sitting at the intersection of 23rd and Iowa. As I recall, they stayed quite busy too.
AreUNorml (anonymous) says…
I think that a lot of traffic violations are difficult to prove unless the officer actually sees it occur. if he's looking the other way at some other idiot and misses the bulk of your own stupidity, there's really nothing they can do. and someone calling in a complaint on someone who ran a stop sign or blew through an almost red light, is just wasting the LPD's time.
tomatogrower (anonymous) says…
Every cop should be a traffic cop. I could see them not pulling over a traffic violator if they were rushing to the scene of a crime, but when they are out patrolling they should ticket people. I obey traffic laws for safety's sake, but those who think the stop sign or red light is just a suggestion need to get tickets, or they will just keep doing it.
RawkStar (anonymous) says…
Can't make everyone happy all the time. While you are crying about lack of enforcement of traffic violations many others are wondering why the police force doesn't spend more of their time and resources going after "dangerous" criminals, but don't you dare even mention hiring more police officers because then you will just be opening another can of "waste of tax dollars" worms. I'm thinking this letter seems to be a joke.
jafs (anonymous) says…
If the police are simply driving around town, as they often seem to be, they should certainly be issuing more traffic violations - people drive quite badly in this town.
I'd be happy to see more tickets for failure to signal, running red lights, etc.
Of course, if they're chasing a rapist, they shouldn't stop to issue a traffic citation - nobody's arguing that they should.
honeychild (Mel Briscoe) says…
"I recently moved to Topeka from Salina and Mel isn't kidding. They will get you for anything and everything while you are behind the wheel. But that is about as far as their service to the community extends. they will allow a bar fight to go on across the street while they write a ticket for failure to use turn signal. lol! not kidding!"
yup.
Lynn731 (anonymous) says…
For one thing, there are way too many laws. A person cannot be expected to know them all. Thank you, Lynn
jehovah_bob (anonymous) says…
Grammar is joke
Irenaku (anonymous) says…
Today there was an officer at the intersection of 11th and Haskell ticketing people coming from the compost giveaway for littering. Apparently if there was any loose dirt on the side rails or trailer hitch area of a persons truck/vehicle and it blew off onto the road, it was considered littering and they were cited for it. ?!?#?@W?$?
Renaissance (anonymous) says…
most of the compost tickets were for dirt blocking the license plate. I agree though, cheap move by the police to really bring down a great community event.
tomatogrower (anonymous) says…
Lynn731 (anonymous) says…
For one thing, there are way too many laws. A person cannot be expected to know them all. Thank you, Lynn
If it's too complicated, maybe you shouldn't drive.
Jimo (anonymous) says…
"Every cop should be a traffic cop."
As long as you pay for it out of your own pocket.
AreUNorml (anonymous) says…
i don't think it's about littering or even so much blocking a license plate. But clods of dirt flying off the back of a truck can do serious damage to a windshield or radiator and possibly cause an accident. the law in kansas is that your load must be secure.
BABBOY (anonymous) says…
Wow, I am not a fan of this phrase. But, it seems to apply here.
"Be careful what you ask for"
Amazed that some one actually took the time to write a letter on this issue.