Our View

Our View

Enough with these ‘revenue enhancement’ police

As it was pointed out back in May, Arkansas law enforcement has its issues in coping with the scores of small town, mediocre policing, as in the case of the ridiculous situation that arose in the township of Jericho where it is common knowledge unsuspecting motorists fall prey to predatory cops.

These tiny towns are notorious for setting up what are known as speed traps on main thoroughfares that run through their incorporated areas. Parkin, another small town in neighboring Cross County, has had a reputation for this money generating, underhanded tactic.

Earle, another small and decaying township in Crittenden County has a reputation for targeting motorists traveling U.S. Highway 64.

The scheme, as we pointed out, is to set up what are also known among the law enforcement community as “fishing holes” where less-than-ethical so-called police officers stop travelers for such claims as speeding.

Citations are always issued, and in most cases, go uncontested with the incoming revenue being dumped into the ailing budgets.

It has often been wondered what “real” police officers would do, if, by change, they fell prey to this uncalledfor harassment. As we pointed out in our opinion in the May 13th edition of the Times that we would like to shake the hand and pat Arkansas State Trooper Mickey Strayhorn on the back for what he did after experiencing what the general public goes through on a regular basis.

At the time, it was reported that Jericho, an incorporated area of just 184 people, has a police chief by the name of Roy Hill. Hill says the situation dates back to February, at which time a 19-year-old was stopped and issued a speeding ticket. The teen first happened to be the son of Trooper Strayhorn.

Four weeks later, Strayhorn’s son was again stopped in Jericho, and once again issued a speeding ticket.

Well, it seems Trooper Strayhorn was patrolling the Jericho area, well within his jurisdiction, and just happened to notice this Jericho cop driving around in a beat-up old police car with no seat belt on and who was speeding.

So it seems Trooper Strayhorn did what he would have done to any other motorist in violation, and he pulled the Jericho cop over and issued a simple warning ticket.

Well, that didn’t sit so well with this so-called Jericho police chief who filed a complaint with Trooper Strayhorn’s supervisors, which we can only hope went absolutely no where.

Anyway, as we’ve said Arkansas isn’t the only state with similar issues. In fact, it was interesting to learn that the small town of Turbeville, South Carolina, has just recently been hit with a lawsuit over its controversial speed enforcement practices.

Here is another small incorporated area of just a little more than 800 residents. Turbeville has collected more than $1 million per year in traffic fines for more than a decade. An investigation revealed that Turbeville’s law-enforcement budget represents $1,250 for every single resident, including adults and children.

It’s called revenue enhancement people, and a practice that plenty of towns are known for. Let’s face the fact that it is behavior such as this that give good law enforcement a black eye and is something that should be seriously addressed, not only in Arkansas but also elsewhere as well.