Arlington City Council member wants cops to write more tickets

One Arlington City Council member wants police to write more traffic tickets after seeing data that indicates they've decreased over the past few years.

In a budget follow-up presentation to the council on Tuesday, city staff showed that traffic tickets went from 85,207 in 2016 to 39,336 in 2023.

“We’ve gotten more people than we had in 2016, yet traffic citations have dropped more than 50%. Any explanations for that?" asked city council member Andrew Piel.

City Manager Trey Yelverton said in his discussions with the police chief, there could be a few reasons for this decrease, including holdover COVID precautions of limiting face-to-face interactions with the public.

He also said it could be because of the effects of social justice movements after George Floyd and limiting officer stops due to safety concerns.

“When you see some of these things on TV with body camera videos, lots of times they’re traffic stops gone bad," Yelverton said.

“I respect the risks that officers face in doing traffic stops and I understand the reality of the changes since the very sad death of George Floyd and the social impact that we’ve had," Piel responded.

He pointed out recent city surveys and crash reports.

According to the city's satisfaction surveys, a growing of respondents say speeding and drivers running red lights are a problem.

Fatal crash numbers, according to Arlington Police data, are a mixed bag.

In 2020, APD recorded 33 crashes with 34 deaths, and in 2021, that increased to 50 crashes and 53 deaths, a record year for the city.

Fatal crashes dropped back down in 2022 to 25, with 26 deaths, and ticked back up to 42 crashes and 43 fatalities last year.

So far in 2024, APD says there have been 23 crashes and 23 deaths. At this time last year, it was similar, with 24 crashes and 25 fatalities.

A spokesperson explained that the number of fatal crashes may be different from the number of deaths is because several people may have been killed in one crash.

"It is not acceptable, bottom line, for traffic citations to stay that low. That indicates to me a lack of focus on an issue that our residents really, really care about and is directly related to public safety. And it needs to get better," Piel said.

In a statement to NBC 5, Arlington Police said they plan to give the council an update at their next meeting on Tuesday.

"The Arlington Police Department respects the concerns that Council Member Piel and other city leaders have raised regarding traffic safety in our city. Traffic safety remains a top priority for the department. Chief [Al] Jones will provide an update to the City Council during their next afternoon session on Tuesday, Sept. 3," said spokesperson Tim Ciesco in an email.

There's also a financial factor to all this-- in fact, the discussion was driven by budget talks.

Earlier this month, city staff presented the council with data showing the city's revenue from citations has been declining over the past few years.

Citation revenue includes violations that come in from city ordinances and state codes, but most of it typically comes from traffic violations.

During that earlier meeting, Piel had asked staff how many of the declining citations were traffic ones, and staff came back with the breakdown this week.

Not everyone is on board with more tickets.

“I don’t really see any problems where I am," said Marquel McDuffie, who lives in Arlington near Grand Prairie.

She'd rather see more police trying to do community outreach.

But Poetic Young said he's one of the neighbors who doesn't feel safe on Arlington's streets.

“I wish people would drive better, be more cautious," he said.

He said even driving the one mile from his home to his son's daycare makes him worried about their safety.

“That’s why I drive for myself and everybody else, make sure you’re strapped in, I’m strapped in," he said.

Young said if police have to give out more tickets to make people safer, he's behind it.

“Right is right, wrong is wrong," Young said. “[If] they’ve got to do what they’ve got to do to save people’s lives and make it easier on everybody and their kids, so be it.”