A “kinder, gentler” police policy of giving more offending drivers just warnings apparently is passé.
Or maybe police have better mastered the e-ticketing system largely blamed for far fewer tickets since it started three years ago.
For whatever reasons, the number of tickets went up 22 percent last fiscal year and pulled in $2 million more in city court fines.
City officials reported the outcome today to the city council finance committee, which advanced an ordinance to transfer the money to city coffers and to police.
About $1.6 million of it will go to police, who will divide it among the patrol districts. The rest will go to municipal court security.
Asked why so many more tickets, a police liaison official said the patrol put more emphasis on traditional patrol activities.
Councilwoman Jan Marcason, finance committee chair, said, “We appreciate the increased public safety.”
Many city officials had not been pleased with the loss of millions of dollars in revenue during the ticket scarce years.
But the trend now is onward and upward. In the fiscal year that ended April 30, tickets averaged 15,028 a month, compared to 13,181 the year before.
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