State police to investigate if Arkansas city a speed trap

CONWAY -- A prosecutor has asked the Arkansas State Police to investigate whether the small town of Damascus has violated the state's speed-trap law.

"This request is made in response to citizen complaints and a communicated desire by the City of Damascus to have a definitive determination made on whether they are in compliance with state law," Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland wrote in a letter dated Monday and mailed Thursday to Col. William Bryant, state police director.

The letter noted that the speed-trap law, Arkansas Code Annotated 12-8-401 through 403, provides that a prosecutor may ask the state police to "investigate and determine whether any municipality is abusing police power" regarding the issuance of traffic citations.

Damascus City Attorney Beau Wilcox said Thursday that he and Hiland get calls from people complaining about traffic citations issued by city officers.

The town of about 385 residents lies in Faulkner and Van Buren counties. A four-lane stretch of U.S. 65 runs through Damascus, and motorists headed to Conway, Branson or Greers Ferry Lake often use the highway. A section of Arkansas 124 also goes through Damascus.

The town generally has three or four full-time police officers, including the chief, and usually has two or three part-time officers, Wilcox said.

In an emailed statement, Wilcox said speed limits of 65 mph on U.S. 65 drop to 45 mph through the main part of Damascus and are "posted at the north and south ends of the city very clearly."

"Damascus has no stoplights, and the sheer volume and itinerant nature of traffic through town has to be managed for the safety of the residents and the other motorists," he added.

"I feel very confident that Damascus governs its public roads in a manner that is appropriate and lawful, but Cody Hiland and I agreed that the best practice now, to [defuse] any controversy, would be to commence the audit measures in the statute through the Arkansas State Police so that we can have a clear picture of where Damascus stands," Wilcox wrote.

For example, Wilcox said, "Virtually no citations for speeding are written unless the motorist exceeds the 45 mph speed limit by 15 or more" miles per hour. "Even then, we strongly consider the motorist's driving record."

Under state law, abuse of police power refers to "the exercise of police power to enforce criminal and traffic laws for the principal purpose of raising revenue for the municipality and not for the purpose of public safety and welfare." The law applies to second-class cities and incorporated towns with part of the state highway system passing through them."

State law requires that the town being investigated "submit a certified record of all fines, costs, citations, municipal expenditures, and percentage of citations that are written for" motorists traveling 10 mph or less above the posted speed limit. The record must cover a period of no fewer than 90 days, though the specific number is up to the state police.

A city is in violation of state law if its revenue from traffic fines and costs related to its local citations exceeds 30 percent of the town's total expenses, less capital expenses and debt service, in the preceding year; or if more than 50 percent of local misdemeanor tickets issued on a state highway are for motorists driving 10 miles or less too fast.

After reviewing the investigation, a prosecutor then is to decide if the town violated the law. Sanctions available to the prosecutors include ordering the town to cease patrolling affected highways or ordering the town to pay all or part of future revenue from such traffic violations to a county fund for public schools.

State Desk on 06/24/2016

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A map showing the location of Damascus, Arkansas.

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