"Don't you have something more important to do than write me a ticket?" ...It seems every police officer at some point in their career has been asked that question.
The fact is, traffic enforcement is just one part of a comprehensive approach toward making our community safe. The Greenville Police Department works toward a safer community in a variety of ways. Among these are: patrol officers and detectives catching criminals, volunteers working on community watch, code enforcement working to reduce public hazards, community outreach with kids in the PAL program, and through traffic safety enforcement, just to name a few.
Let's dispel a few myths right here. There is no such thing as a quota for traffic tickets. Traffic tickets do not generate revenue for the City. And no police officer has ever received a toaster oven for writing the most traffic tickets.
But there is a correlation between the number of traffic tickets being written, and the number of car crashes that take place each year. As the number of traffic tickets that were issued decreased, the number of car crashes increased. No myth there. That is a fact.
Are other factors involved? Almost certainly. The City of Greenville has seen tremendous growth and new roads have been built. But the fact remains that the number of car crashes yearly has steadily risen from 5,046 crashes in 2005 to 5,575 crashes in 2011. The number of traffic tickets issued yearly have gone down from 24,478 in 2005 to 14,950 in 2011.
Voluntary compliance to the traffic safety laws leads to safer roadways, to lives saved, and to a safer community. That is the goal of traffic safety enforcement and its part of law enforcement, which in turn is part of the bigger picture.
So when you see that police officer ahead with the RADAR and you slow down, then who knows, a life may be saved and it may be someone you love. It may even be yours, and what's more important than that?
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