Police officers are responding to residents' requests that they crack down on drivers who break the law.
By SHANNON TAN
Published November 11, 2003
LARGO - Get a traffic ticket recently? You asked for it.
Residents have called, written and filled out surveys asking for police to step up enforcement of traffic laws.
They got what they asked for.
The number of traffic citations has skyrocketed, and Largo police officers are on pace to double the number of traffic stops from last year.
From Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 7,877 traffic citations were issued. During the same period last year, 5,517 such citations were doled out.
The drivers were cited for moving violations, which include speeding, running a red light and improper lane changes.
Largo police issued 939 moving violation tickets in October.
"Traffic enforcement is the No. 1 burning issue our residents keep conveying to me," said Chief Lester Aradi. "Not a week goes by where I don't receive some communication from our residents saying, "Do more about traffic enforcement.' "
Right now, the Police Department is focusing on violations of seat belt and school bus laws and on monitoring school zones.
An initial study shows that the increased enforcement may have led to a decline in crashes.
There were 2,755 crashes from January to September this year - down from 2,822 in 2002 and 2,810 in 2001 for the same time period.
"I personally believe when the public continuously sees there's increased traffic enforcement in a particular area, they take the effort to slow down," Aradi said.
Largo police have used speed trailers 56 times and made 9,908 traffic stops so far this year. Last year, speed trailers - the digital signs that measure your speed and flash it - were used 46 times. Approximately 5,517 traffic stops were carried out from January to September 2002.
Traffic stops and related traffic offenses account for about 14 percent of the arrests for the Police Department.
But although police are ticketing more, the city is getting less revenue.
The city took in $332,392 for fiscal 2003, compared with $416,195 for fiscal 2000.
The city's management services department is looking into why there has been a drop in revenue, Aradi said. He stressed that the department does not conduct traffic enforcement for revenue purposes.
Largo police have always been gung-ho about traffic enforcement for safety's sake.
Former police Chief Jerry Bloechle used an undercover officer to nab speeders. As soon as the officer, who was dressed as a road maintenance worker, found speeders, he radioed his ground patrol. Those officers flagged down the drivers to dole out tickets and issue warnings.
But Aradi, who took over in 2001, said no to using decoys or plainclothes officers to surprise motorists.
"We don't hide," he said. "We won't as long as I'm chief."
Instead, officers are assigned to enforce traffic laws in Largo's "hot spots" - streets where frequent crashes have occurred and the ones residents have complained about.
"I just have a personal feeling that traffic violations are so flagrant, you don't need to be surreptitious about it," Aradi said.
A Pinellas County Metropolitan Planning Organization analysis found that eight of the county's 100 most accident-prone intersections are in Largo.
The intersections are Ulmerton Road and 66th Street, Seminole Boulevard and Ulmerton Road, Starkey/Keene Road and East Bay Drive, Belcher Road and East Bay Drive, Ulmerton and Belcher roads, Seminole Boulevard and East Bay Drive, Starkey and Ulmerton roads, and U.S. 19 and East Bay Drive.
