A prosecutor ruled this week that the city of Damascus violated an Arkansas law prohibiting the abuse of power by operating a speed trap that included a main thoroughfare.
The findings released Wednesday by 20th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland came months after the start of an Arkansas State Police investigation into a possible speed trap.
Hiland noted in his ruling that the Damascus Police Department “abused its police power through the enforcement of criminal and traffic laws for the principal purpose of raising revenue for the municipality and not for the purpose of public safety.”
Revenue generated from fines and costs from traffic offenses for between 2013 and 2015 exceeded 30 percent of the city's total expenses, the findings show.
[DOCUMENT: Read the prosecutor's ruling on the Damascus speed trap investigation]
An Arkansas town is in violation of state law at the point that its revenue from traffic-related fines and costs exceeds 30 percent of its total expenses in the preceding year.
Hiland asked the Arkansas State Police in June to initiate an investigation after his office received complaints about traffic citations issued by city officers, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported.
City officials have 30 days to respond in writing to Wednesday’s filing, according to the document.
If they do not, or if their response is deemed “ineffective in altering the findings,” sanctions will be administered.
Sanctions could include ordering the town to stop patrolling affected highways or ordering the town of about 385 residents to pay all or part of future revenue from traffic citations to a county fund for public schools.
Responding to the findings, Damascus City Attorney Beau Wilcox said city officials will likely consider it "both legally advisable and prudent" to challenge the statute in court.
"In short, there is a fundamental lack of due process afforded the city by way of the statute, and there are vague, ambiguous, and arbitrary components of the statute that also make it worthy of judicial review," Wilcox wrote in an emailed statement.
Wilcox previously told the Democrat-Gazette that speed limit signs showing a drop in speed from 65 mph to 45 mph through Damascus were "very clearly" posted at the north and south ends on U.S. 65.
"The importance of ensuring that motorists respect these posted limits for the affected business patrons, employees, owners, and residents, to say nothing of the thousands of other motorists on the highway during a given day, cannot be understated," the attorney said Wednesday.
That highway is a heavily traveled route for motorists traveling north to Branson or south to Conway. A section of Arkansas 124 also cuts through Damascus.
Damascus is about 53 miles north of Little Rock in Faulkner and Van Buren counties.
Read Thursday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
Information for this article was contributed by Debra Hale-Shelton of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.