Reason.com recently published a list of eleven U.S. towns where their police forces were either disbanded or their autonomy as a governmental entity was dissolved because of an addiction to, and dependence on, ticket revenue. We thought it would be informative to present excerpts from Reason’s article for those cities along with select driver-sourced comments about those same locations to the NMA’s National Speed Trap Exchange at https://www.speedtrap.org.
Revenue hunting under the guise of traffic law enforcement is a crime against the public. While these cities eventually got caught, they showed that crime can pay.
Castleberry, Alabama
This town is 90 miles northeast of Mobile.
Reason:
“In 2017, the News reported that Castleberry, Alabama, with a population of about 500, was generating revenue through what amounted to highway robbery. More than a dozen lawsuits claimed that Castleberry officers illegally arrested and searched motorists, seizing their cash and cars without filing charges or even paperwork. In the ensuing scandal, Castleberry trimmed its police force down to just two part-time police officers.”
Speedtrap.org report (pre-scandal):
“There are four uniformed policemen and two auxiliary police, one of which carries a weapon for a population of around 600 residents. One can not drive through the town without seeing a traffic stop in progress. There is always someone on patrol, even during the nighttime hours. Tickets are given for five miles over the limit of 40 miles per hour.”
Wilmer, Alabama
Wilmer, 30 miles northwest of Mobile, became unincorporated in 1993 after its infamy as a speed trap town spread.
Reason:
“In the early 1990s, Wilmer controlled eight miles of U.S. 98, a popular route for drivers coming from Mississippi’s dry counties to stock up on booze. In the short stretch of U.S. 98 that Wilmer policed, the speed limit changed six times.
“Wilmer gained such an obnoxious reputation that one local business, Snuffy Smith’s antique store—which also sold liquor, pigs’ feet, ammunition, and bait—put up a 12-foot sign that read, ‘MOTORISTS BEWARE. SPEED TRAP NEXT 6 MILES.’
“The local district attorney investigated Wilmer in 1992 and concluded that the town had been running a speed trap for the past decade to keep itself afloat. Several former Wilmer police officers said the mayor and town council gave them ticket quotas to meet. The district attorney warned Wilmer to knock it off, or he would seek a court order against the town.”
Speedtrap.org report:
“Small town along old Route 98. I believe the new Route 98 solved that one. Was notorious, well-known.”
Fruithurst, Alabama
Fruithurst is less than an hour’s drive from the outskirts of Atlanta. It has 235 residents according to the 2020 census.
Reason:
“In 1975, Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley declared that the small hamlet of Fruithurst, near the Georgia border, was ‘the worst speed trap in the nation’ and ‘a terrible blot on the good name of Alabama.’
“Under scrutiny, Fruithurst abolished its police force. Baxley filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction and took the unusual step of setting up a public defender’s office in a trailer next to Fruithurst’s town hall, promising representation for anyone ensnared by the speed trap. Fruithurst settled the lawsuit by agreeing not to patrol the highway anymore.”
Speedtrap.org:
No reports. Fruithurst ceased traffic enforcement before the NMA database was created.
Hampton, Florida
Another city with a population of under 500, Hampton is located in Bradford County. In 2012, Hampton collected fines of over $210,000 by ticketing drivers along its quarter-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 301. Based on an average fine of $75, that’s nearly one citation every three hours every day of the year.
Reason:
“The primary function of the government of this town of 477 souls appeared to be to support the lifestyles of the police department’s 19 officers.
“Two disgusted Florida state lawmakers, one of whom had received a speeding ticket from Hampton’s finest, threatened to introduce a bill to revoke the town’s charter. Hampton only avoided the wrath of the state legislature [in 2014] by disbanding its police force, de-annexing the strip of highway, and accepting the -resignation of every public official who held office when the scandal broke.”
Speedtrap.org:
“The next town southbound is the nationally infamous Waldo.”
Waldo, Florida
NMA Reboot: Where’s the Waldo Police Department?
Reason:
“Unlike most of the cases featured here, the speed trap in Waldo, Florida, was brought down not by outside pressure but from the inside.
“The town, just seven miles south of Hampton, was a well-known speed trap. The speed limit changed six times on the stretch of highway running through Waldo, and AAA erected billboards warning motorists about it. About half of Waldo’s $1 million in annual revenue in 2013 came from traffic fines.
“In 2014, the police chief was suspended after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) launched an investigation into the town’s ticket-writing practices. Shortly after that, five Waldo police officers went before the town council and accused the chief of forcing them to meet illegal ticket quotas. The interim chief was accused of mishandling evidence.
After the FDLE gave the small town the estimated bill to get its evidence storage facilities up to standards, the council decided to cut its losses and voted 4–1 to disband its police force.”
Speedtrap.org:
“Waldo. Starke and Baldwin, Florida are notorious, legendary speed traps. These towns fund their budgets with the ticket pad and show no mercy. These police departments make it up as they go along. Infractions are real or imagined. Avoid these towns at all costs…..burn the gas and take the long way around.”
New Rome, Ohio
This now unincorporated community of about 60 people is just west of Columbus.
Reason:
“The village of New Rome, Ohio, was all of three blocks long and three blocks wide, but what it lacked in size it more than made up for in traffic enforcement. During the 1990s and early 2000s, it ran one of Ohio’s most hated speed traps.
“Columbus Monthly reported that in the year 2000, New Rome generated nearly $362,000 from traffic enforcement on a 1,000-foot stretch of highway. Its revenue that year was $380,000.
“In 2003, the new mayor put the question to voters of whether New Rome should continue to exist or be absorbed into its closest neighbor. The town voted 21–11 to stay alive, but the state legislature had other plans.
“That year, Ohio lawmakers passed a bill specifically targeting New Rome that allowed the state to dissolve small towns in fiscal distress with populations under 150. Under that law, the New Roman Empire was finally disincorporated in 2004.”
Speedtrap.org:
“The speed trap that existed in New Rome, OH has now been declared illegal and no longer exists. The Village of New Rome no longer has its own police force. The road is now patrolled by the State Highway Patrol and Franklin County Sheriff. “
Next week, Part 2 will give insight into the last five speed traps plus some dishonorable mentions just in time for Memorial Day Weekend. Drive safe out there and anytime you encounter a speed trap, enter it into the driver-curated http://www.speedtrap.org website.
