The number of vehicles pulled over by Peachtree City police officers has drastically increased between this year and last.
According to city records, the total number of pullovers has increased from 5,208 at this time last year to 9,482 this year. That’s an 89 percent increase.
Not surprisingly, the department is also issuing more citations than last year: 62 percent more. And while 4,993 citations have been issued this year the department has issued 6,371 warnings, a 100 percent increase.
So far this year, the 62 percent increase in citations hasn’t led to a subsequent payday in fines collected from municipal court. Year to date fines collected are up only 12.4 percent, with an increase of $148,409 compared to last year.
Councilman Eric Imker questioned the spike in traffic stops at Thursday night’s City Council meeting.
Police Chief H.C. “Skip” Clark said the increase was intentional as officers are beefing up their visibility in an effort to deter criminal activity.
“We’re working more aggressively in traffic enforcement because there’s a direct correlation in crime reduction,” Clark said. “… When you have greater visibility in traffic enforcement you have a greater reduction in crime. That’s the model we’re actually following right now.”
The city has seen a significant drop in burglaries year to date with just 15 compared to 27 at this point last year. Overall theft numbers are also down with 184 this year compared to 263 last year.
Surprisingly, despite the drastic increase in traffic stops, the city’s arrests on traffic offenses are down slightly this year, at 207 compared to 241 last year.
