Police Banned From Enforcing Traffic Laws In Oklahoma Town Over Abuse Of Traffic Tickets For Money

from the Radar-Gun-once-again-selected-as-Officer-of-the-Year! dept

Tue, Jan 28th 2014 7:47am — Tim Cushing

When police departments begin viewing themselves as revenue generating entities rather than law enforcement entities, it has a deleterious effect on the public, which is now viewed as potential income, rather than citizens. If the incentives become perverted, the department will as well. Everything from "booking fees" to forfeiture laws are prone to abuse, especially when the municipality becomes just as addicted to the cash flow.

An Oklahoma town with the population of 410 is in the news precisely because of this abuse. It seems the Oklahoma Dept. of Public Safety (DPS) isn't happy with the outsized cash haul a single police department has raked in over the past few years.

The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety announced Jan. 13 that Stringtown's police department no longer would be allowed to enforce traffic laws on state and federal highways that run through the town.

After an investigation -- which had been requested by the state attorney general's office -- it was determined that Stringtown generated too much revenue through police-related activities.

State law prohibits cities and towns from generating more than half of their revenue through the collection of traffic fine payments.

According to the most recent audit of Stringtown's finances, the town generated $483,646 in fines during fiscal year 2013. That figure represents 76 percent of all Springtown revenue.

The year before, traffic fines accounted for about the same amount of cash, or 73 percent of all revenue in fiscal year 2012.

Springtown's reputation precedes it. A town that would barely register on a map is one of Oklahoma's most notorious speed traps. And this recent smackdown by the DPS is one of several.

In the mid-2000s, Stringtown police officers were stripped of their authority to write tickets along U.S. 69, causing the department to effectively shut down. Several other towns, including Big Cabin, also had action taken against them around the same time.

It was investigated in the late 1990s, with the end result being an increase in the town's speed limit in order to better match the surrounding areas. A former Transportation Dept. spokesman also said the town's PD had been investigated in the 1980s for the same reason.

So, why can't the ~~Springtown~~ Stringtown PD be taught? Well, it's because the town itself has come to rely on the influx of income its police department provides. But rather than limit itself to a reasonable amount of money and living within the sort of means most towns with a population of 400 would, ~~Springtown~~ Stringtown began viewing law enforcement as a growth industry.

In the early 1980s, Stringtown had just three full-time city employees. After the end of the decade -- six years after Stringtown officials decided to process their own speeding tickets -- the town employed 20 full-time workers, six of them full-time police officers.

The money from speeding tickets also built a new city hall and police station, something that's definitely a luxury for a town that would otherwise be fortunate to bankroll two full-time police officers.

The citizens of Stringtown seem to have bought into the city's delusion that it "needs" 20 employees and six cops.

OHP Captain Jeff Sewell says that's a problem for small towns, like Stringtown, with a population of 410.

"They have no other means for revenue. They had a store there, the store shut down. They had an eating place, it shut down. So they really don't have a place. Nobody puts any businesses up there," Sewell said.

But there is one corner store where employees are concerned about the lack of law enforcement.

"You know, people breaking in, you know, breaking stuff, stealing stuff," store employee Cindy Smith said.

The town is mostly dead and yet, the PD's supporters somehow think a super-prolific speed trap is the proper way to revive it. Smith's worry about people "breaking in" to the one store still alive in town seems misplaced. If the PD's ticket revenue is to be believed, everyone was passing through ~~Springtown~~ Stringtown too quickly to be bothered to pull a smash and grab at what seems to be one of the only surviving businesses in the city limits.

Stringtown has been relying on its police force to balance the town's books for more than 30 years now, despite being forced to go "cold turkey" multiple times. The DPS may have cut off its supply again, but history has proven the town has run out of revenue generation ideas that don't involve a 6-person PD -- stationed in a town of 410 -- ticketing as many drivers as possible.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: department of public safety, oklahoma, speed trap, stringtown, traffic

37 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

That One Guy (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 6:10am

Yeah, how about that...
"They have no other means for revenue. They had a store there, the store shut down. They had an eating place, it shut down. So they really don't have a place. Nobody puts any businesses up there," Sewell said.

Huh, I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that no-one wants to get anywhere near the town, for worry about being forced into making a 'donation' to it's coffers? Kinda hard to get any outside revenue flowing into the town after all when it's been made clear that they see outside visitors/drivers as nothing more than wallets-on-wheels.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Violynne (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 6:57am

Why did the town name change from Stringtown to Springtown by the article's end?

Too bad Indiana doesn't have a state law like this. >:(
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Brazenly Anonymous, 28 Jan 2014 @ 8:20am
  
  Re:
  The name of the town is Stringtown, which is entirely consistent throughout the quoted article. Tim calls it Springtown, and he is consistent with his usage as well, indicating that he is reading the name wrong, a fairly common error.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ninja (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 7:57am

Here when a town can't sustain itself to alarming degrees it becomes a district of another larger one...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- The Mighty Buzzard (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 8:18am
  
  Re:
  Nice thought but it just wouldn't work here. To become a town here you have to have at least one commercial and one industrial business. If you later fall below that bar, any town nearby can annex you any time they like.
  
  The problem is they also have to yoink a continuous tract of land between themselves and the town they want to annex. This being Oklahoma, there is enough open land between towns that it's just not feasible. Any town taking our worst speedtraps over would have to annex and supply town services to ten, twenty, maybe thirty miles worth of highway frontage to get there.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Ninja (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 9:51am
    
    Re: Re:
    Same here. Brazil is a continental country too. I can see the issues but from my experience sometimes it's way better since the bigger town can actually afford to provide basic infra-structure to the new district whereas the small town alone just.. Exist. It's a double edged sword indeed.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Altaree, 28 Jan 2014 @ 8:12am

They also have to protect the truckstop/casino north of town.
If you look at google maps, they are within the city limits.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- The Mighty Buzzard (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 8:23am
  
  Re: They also have to protect the truckstop/casino north of town.
  Rest assured, the casino has no need of outside security. Internal casino security aside, Indian tribes maintain their own police forces and are licensed to operate pretty much anywhere in the state.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Andy West (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 8:19am

Until Oklahoma takes Springtown's charter away...
On U.S. 69 going north at Atoka, take U.S. 75 north and west to Coalgate. At Coalgate, follow north Main Street off of U.S. 75 onto state road 31. Keep on state road 31 out of Coalgate and past Cottonwood. At the intersection of state roads 31 and 131, take route 131. The road will join U.S. 69 near Reynolds Lake, far north of Springtown, bypassing the town entirely.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Alt0, 28 Jan 2014 @ 10:23am
  
  Re: Until Oklahoma takes Springtown's charter away...
  Why?
  They are NOT ALLOWED to ticket now.
  (actually the point of the article)
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 11:18am
    
    Re: Re: Until Oklahoma takes Springtown's charter away...
    According to the article they aren't allowed to ticket on FEDERAL Highways. That doesn't mean that if you get off the federal highway system that they cannot give you a ticket on a local street.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 8:20am

If there's just the one store in town, it should be pretty to prevent people from breaking in. Just post a cop there full time. If they have a real problem and it's the only store, it certainly should be important enough to warrant a full time cop.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- DannyB (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 8:36am
  
  Re:
  They have six cops with nothing else to do. So the store should be quite safe.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 8:54am
    
    Re: Re:
    I'm assuming with reduced funds they might have to lay off a couple of them. Then to keep someone there 24/7 they'd need to go through rotating shifts which would probably take 3 of them, and they'd need the last cop to deal with the rest of the town.
    
    Of course they could just start arresting people for loitering in the store and make up some of the revenue that way.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - btrussell (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 3:15am
    
    Re: Re:
    Especially since they supply coffee and donuts.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - me@me.net, 29 Jan 2014 @ 4:30am
    
    Re: Re:sounds like college
    Small town, Six State Troopers as Campus Police, nothing..... better.... to.... do.....
    
    enough said
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- DOlz (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 10:08am
  
  Re:
  Considering how this town operates, if the store isn't "giving" the cops free donuts and coffee then they're just asking for it.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
DannyB (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 8:38am

How to game the system
So String/Spring town cannot enforce traffic laws on federal and state roads passing through.

Ah, but what about local laws?

Raise your hand if you can think of a way this can be turned into a fantastic revenue opportunity.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 8:57am
  
  Re: How to game the system
  Secede the city from USA, reduce corporate taxation to 0 % and throw a party!
  
  Close the federal and state roads and keep the buck rolling for a while. Follow up by making the area a "quiet zone" and make it a public disturbance violation. I haven't even touched on the elephant in the room. If the city wants to cheat, they can cheat. Atleast for a while...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - DannyB (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 6:33am
    
    Re: Re: How to game the system
    Put up a toll gate on the road in order to pass through the town. (Although fees collected do not go toward maintenance of the road.) Now THAT is a growth industry! And sustainable indefinitely! And best of all, nobody will be upset about it.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 8:58am

good, this kind of scam should be shut down, and further, they should be made to pay the fines back, backdated, with interest, for all the fines for driving at what should be considered 'reasonable' speeds.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Fushta (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 9:30am

New Rome, OH was the same...Was
The link is for the story of New Rome, OH, which was much like Stringtown, until the powers-that-be voted it out of existence.

http://legalaffairs.org/issues/January-February-2005/scene_gagnon_janfeb05.msp
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 11:02am

Fire their asses...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 11:03am

Usually a lot of the revenue goes missing
I don't know if it happened in this case, but I remember reading stories about one of these little towns becoming like this. They even had dump trucks that would drive slowly and make left hand turns, and when people went around them on the right they'd get pulled over for crossing the shoulder line.

Well, after the state shut everything down, they went to look for all the money they had collected and surprise, most of it was missing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 11:34am

Sounds like...
Phillipsburg New Jersey. The PD got all bent out of shape when they weren't allowed to drop the speed limit on a Federal highway with no notice. Of course, one of the department leaking a memo about generating income and quotas didn't help their case much, either.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Alt0, 28 Jan 2014 @ 11:42am

Maybe they should go back to making String? Or Springs, whatever.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- DannyB (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 6:34am
  
  Re:
  Making springs out of string? Or string out of springs?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Irving, 28 Jan 2014 @ 12:21pm

Forfeiture laws are not subject to abuse; they are abuse.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
TiagoTiago (profile), 28 Jan 2014 @ 2:51pm

Why not just have some toll booths?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 7:41pm
  
  Re:
  because its a federal highway, they cannot charge a toll for it.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - TiagoTiago (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 4:21am
    
    Re: Re:
    Oh, i see, ok.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - DannyB (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 6:39am
    
    Re: Re:
    Saying that a small town cannot charge a toll on a federal highway that passes through is as silly as saying that the mafiaa cannot charge business owners for protection against 'something bad' happening to their business in the middle of the night.
    
    The people of this town are the same caliber of people charging for the protection of businesses. It creates incomes for people collecting the money.
    
    For example, if a group of kids charge a business owner $1.50 / week not to break their front window, isn't that much cheaper than replacing the window? So it is a good business decision to pay. Similar to signing a patent extortion cross license agreement with Microsoft or Apple.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - John Fenderson (profile), 29 Jan 2014 @ 8:51am
    
    Re: Re:
    Other states, such as Michigan, charge tolls on some federal highways.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Jon, 29 Jan 2014 @ 2:20pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Perhaps you mean Ohio/Indiana? I can't think of a single toll road in Michigan's LP. Bridges maybe (Ambassador, tunnel, Blue Water, and Mackinac all charge tolls)
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 9:15pm

Getting a very "RIAA" vibe from this one - profiting from law enforcement.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 1 Feb 2014 @ 12:32am

Stringtown's primary industry is a state prison
As anyone who takes that stretch of highway from Dallas to Tulsa knows, Stringtown was merely the worst of several speed traps along US 69, with Atoka running a close second for a long time, though they finally fixed their signage some years ago.

Stringtown is the home of the Mack Alford Correctional Center, a medium-security prison run by the state of Oklahoma, housing a maximum of 800 inmates or so. The prison is actually called "Stringtown" by most people, I had to google to find its real name. The prison is right on US69, which features "don't pick up hitchhiker" signs for several miles around the prison.

Besides the prison and whatever commerce comes through on the highway, I think the only other industry in the area is strip mining, a little cattle, hunting leases, and less-than-licit activities (moonshining lives on in southern Oklahoma). There may be a few pocket farms around, but they'd be small, marginal operations at best.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
used semi-trucks, 9 Apr 2014 @ 10:54pm

used semi-trucks
The on-line world revolution has provided a higher boost for selling a trucks online without getting any heavy investments. The automotive portals over the internet offer to list your used trucks available on the market without levying any operation costs.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]