Posted on 02/28/2018 9:55:14 PM PST by nickcarraway
The Village of Brice is a dot on the map, about 64 acres. It’s home to about 112 people.
Last year, the village’s police chief said his department issued nearly 4,300 citations. The majority of them were for speeding. That’s 38 tickets for every man, woman and child who calls the village home.
NBC4 Investigator Tom Sussi reports there’s a push from state lawmakers, law enforcement and union officials to slam the brakes on the village’s three-person police force.
Ohio State Rep. Hearcel Craig (D-District 26) said enough is enough.
“It’s inappropriate and it’s something we simply cannot tolerate.”
Village of Brice Police Chief Bud Bauchmoyer told Sussi you’ve got to be driving at least ten MPH over the speed limit to get a speeding ticket in his town.
“I honestly believe we are not going overboard with what we are doing,” said Chief Bauchmoyer in a sit-down interview with Sussi.
Sussi: “Do you know how many traffic citations your department wrote last year?”
Chief Bauchmoyer: “4,270 paid citations.”
Sussi: “What does an average ticket go for?”
Chief Bauchmoyer: “$125.”
In total, that is more than a half of million dollars in citations.
“We spend a lot of time…we are known for working traffic.” Bauchmoyer said.
Sussi said, “Outsiders call it a speed trap.”
“Well, speed trap, if you look at the definition, implies that law enforcement is hiding behind something or they are changing the speeds by a mechanical means. We do neither.”
Sussi replied, “You were hiding these cameras inside traffic barrels at one time.”
“We put a traffic barrel over the camera to protect it from the weather,” said Bauchmoyer.
“That’s not sneaky?” Sussi asked.
“We were still sitting there and visible,” said Bauchmoyer.
In 53 years behind the wheel, Linda Willison told Sussi she’s received just one traffic ticket. In happened last year in the Village of Brice.
“I got to the sign that says you’re entering the 25 miles per hour zone and I hit my brakes.”
Since there is no advance notice of the abrupt speed change, the Village of Millersport councilwoman was too late. A Village of Brice police officer caught her on one of the village’s hand-held speed cameras.
“It’s a laughing stock and brings a discredit upon us as a profession,” said Columbus police officer Jason Pappas, who is also president of Fraternal Order of Police Local 9.
“We do not support them in any way, shape or form, and hope we can work with legislators and be able to remove them from being able to have any law enforcement activities out there.”
Sussi asked Chief Bauchmoyer, “What kind of crimes are you responding to?”
Said Chief Bauchmoyer, “I’ve had domestic issues, I’ve had unhappy customers, businesses.”
“When is the last time the Village of Brice arrested someone?” asked Sussi.
“I have not arrested someone since I took over as Chief,” Bauchmoyer responded.
He took over in December of 2015.
Sussi continued, “Do you think the Village of Brice needs its own police Department? “
Chief Bauchmoyer responded, “They absolutely have the right to have their own police department.”
The state’s largest police union and lawmakers said the village abused that right by issuing nearly 4,300 traffic citations last year.
“This is a disservice to the motoring public and it’s a disgrace to law enforcement,” said Rep. Craig.
Rep. Craig is co-sponsor of House Bill 125. The objective of the bill is to stop small towns and villages, like the Village of Brice, from establishing its own traffic citation fines and overseeing appeals. That would be handled by local municipal and county courts.
“It’s not good public policy and it’s not something we can certainly tolerate or support in the legislature,” said Rep. Craig.
Chief Bauchmoyer said he doesn’t tolerate speeders. He told Sussi, “If you don’t want a ticket, slow down. If you can’t slow down, don’t drive in my town.”
According to numbers provided to us by Chief Bauchmoyer, the village of Brice generated $533,750 in citation revenues last year.
The village contracts with Brekford Traffic Safety company in Maryland. Among other things, the company provides the village with speed cameras, mails out the citations and handles billing.
In Texas the speed cannot be dropped by more than 15 mph to help prevent this. Also, the cities have to pay a good percentage of fines collected to the state for speeding on state highways.
25 mph on a highway is a speed trap. The only excuse would be if the road narrows and there is a lot of pedestrian traffic or a school.
Speed trap. I looked on Google maps. You’d never even guess you were passing through a village. Ironically the local store at the edge of town is a Speedway.
Making people slam their breaks is bad policy. Laws exist to serve the public good not to enrich a hamlet. Any law which does not serve a public good is an a use of law and undermines the rule of law.
Screw these people. I pay for those roads too, in one way or another.
We have a town that people drive through on their way to work, so they decreased the speed limit from 35 incrementally downwards and it is now 25 mph all the way through, and they enforce.
I go out of my way to drive through their town just to piss them off. Big Hillary supporting town, too.
I got caught in one set up in East McKeesport, PA on route 30.
Six cops were pulling cars into a parking lot 6-8 at a time. they gave me a ticket for 55 in a 40 mph zone, but I knew I was going the speed limit and vowed to fight it.
I went to the magistrate's office at 8:00 AM on the appropriate date and there was a line of over 100 people.
The whole thing was rigged. The magistrate called people in, 6 at a time and gave us our options:
1) Pay $ 120, now get no points, and nothing gets reported to Harrisburg, go home and STFU.
2) Come back for a trial, which he 'insinuated' you could not win, pay court costs, and when you lose, you will get 3-6 points reported to Harrisburg against your driving record, which will result in both losing your drivers license as well as an increase in auto insurance rates.
I was absolutely not guilty, and although I was very pissed, at them and me {for not having the resolve to go forward} I took the least expensive option.
My lawyer told me that I did the right thing, because the cops and the magistrate were in this scam together, and they would "prove" that I was speeding.
I read that there were many more complaints to the state attorney general, and this scam has been shut down.
I don't know that for a fact, but that event was several years ago, and I have not seen that speed trap set up since that day {but I have avoided that stretch of road when possible}.
Try driving Rt. 301 in Florida. It’s an area known for speed traps with confusing speed limits.
I bet there are zero accidents there.
Catching so many means the limit on that road should be increased.
Localities tend to set speed limits about 20% lower than what traffic engineers recommend.
End rolling tax collection.
There is a sign on the side of a Florida road that says “Speed Trap, Lawty, 4.5 miles Ahead”
Terrace Park Ohio once had the same reputation. The courts forced them to place signs on the main road passing through the village stating “Reduced Speed Ahead - 35 MPH” and a step down in speed limits on Route 50 from 50 MPH to 40 MPH to 35 MPH instead of the sudden and unannounced 50 MPH to 35 MPH that was the hook for so many speeding tickets.
Does this town’s main road(s) serve as a highway bypass? If so, then I get it - ticket outsiders looking to avoid the highway.
Locals should know “The police here write 12 tickets a day. I really shouldn’t speed”.
4270 per year and no arrests means one thing: this jefe has, with absolute certainty, allowed impaired drivers to go on with just a ticket.
Sounds like Selma, TX back in the 70’s.
Gee, what’s $125? Crumbs?
Your comment was awful elitist. Besides, there’s a principle involved.
Washington DC has a single speed camera that generates $10,000,000 in “safety” annually. The speed limit, on an exit ramp goes from 50 to 30 in about thirty feet. With no notice.
The fee is $150.
I may end up paying the fee, but I will make them earn it.
The 25 MPH speed limit with no warning is the definition of a speed trap.
Most places have signs (speed zone ahead) where if you are doing the posted speed, and take your foot off the throttle and coast in to the speed zone, you will be doing the new posted speed.
This is revenue enhancement pure and simple.
There are speed traps...
And then there is New Rome, Ohio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Rome,_Ohio
Someone should develop an app to indicate towns that are high probability speed traps. Drivers should not spend one penny in those towns. Let the local merchants starve and they will put pressure on the police chief to stop excessive ticket writing.
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