The Peachtree City Police Department is still at it, writing citations and warnings at an unbelievable rate of over 46 per day.
In calendar year 2012 the PTCPD issued a total of 17,005. That’s almost two citations or warnings every hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week all year long.
Does anyone else think that is overdoing it a bit? Are our driving abilities that bad?
About a year and a half ago, I wrote a series of letters to the editor detailing the quantity and type of police vehicles we taxpayers were buying and maintaining (sedans, SUVs, motorcycles, pickup trucks, etc.), the use of PTCPD vehicles used for personal business, brand new vehicles budgeted (Chief Clark: “We just can’t get along without 10 more”) and offering that seemingly the sole remaining mode of transport the police chief does not have in his fleet is a horse!
Now, I know that thanks to the efforts of a couple of our more responsible City Council members, the PTCPD has been reined in somewhat.
In calendar year 2011, 20,026 citations and warnings were issued, 3,021 more than 2012. And, the police chief has come to the responsible conclusion that only seven new cars are needed this year.
Although it was reported in a recent City Council agenda packet that we taxpayers had purchased two new Ford Interceptor (Explorer SUV) Utility vehicles. Can anybody explain why they are needed? Why on earth does the PTCPD need these two behemoths?
What allows the city the ability to purchase all these vehicles?
In part, the fact that the money collected through the thousands of citations issued by the PTCPD amounts to the majority of the $1,215,392 budgeted as “Fines and Forfeitures.” The PTCPD writes citations, the city collects cash. It’s all right there in the 2013 city budget.
Even with the slightly reduced number of citations and warnings issued in 2012 versus the year before, the two-year combined total is an astonishing 37,031! Let’s face it, the PTCPD is a money collection machine.
PTCPD: Pass The Cash Pronto Drivers.
Jeff Christian
Peachtree City, Ga.
