Police
ticketing increasing
By
Dhiya Reyes
On-line Forty-Niner
In
the month of September alone, University
Police officers have issued 1,376 tickets,
a significant increase compared to the 929
tickets issued last year at the same time
according to University Police records.
Captain
Stan Skipworth, of University Police, said
that the rise could possibly be due to the
rising number of people on and around campus.
The more people, the more traffic, the more
likely a driver is going to make a driving
error.
A
combination of people on campus and the
time of year could be another contribution
to the rising numbers, Skipworth said. More
people are on campus at the beginning of
the school year and it makes it harder for
drivers to maneuver and pay attention with
so many cars on campus.
University
Police currently employs 24 officers. There
are usually 14 officers on each shift, a
day shift and a night shift. Minimal staffing
has been kept in recent years and this might
also add to the number of tickets given.
Before, the department did not have enough
people to keep its minimum staffing requirement
and the number of officers out on the field
was lower than they are now.
"It's
reasonable to expect that," Skipworth
said. "To a point, the more people
you have on duty, the more violations might
be able to be seen."
The
number of citations issued is monitored
by a computer in the department. The number
of citations given by each officer each
day is inputted into the computer and reports
can be made available at any time.
Parking
citations are not included in the number
of citations issued. The majority of citations
are for moving violations. However, the
rising ticket numbers do include mechanical
and equipment violations as well.
Skipworth
also said that it is important to remember
that officers give out three to three and
a half as many warnings as they do citations.
They observe violations then judge whether
or not to issue a citation.
The
number of citations issued is not limited
to students. It is based on all tickets
issued. The primary jurisdiction of the
department is the university and one mile
outside its borders. However, in accordance
with the Long Beach Police Department, they
are responsible for any area outside their
jurisdiction where they think a violation
is being made.
Officers
can give citations to anyone, regardless
of whether or not he or she is a student.
"We
have no idea who we're pulling over,"
Skipworth said.
The
job of the department is to enforce the
law independent of what anyone's affiliation
with the university may be. However, there
are times when officers will ask people
if they are students. This is only to see
if they are lost or if they don't know where
to go on campus, causing them to make a
small mistake. Officers will take these
factors into consideration. However, they
know that, especially if it is late in the
school year, drivers should generally know
what they are doing.
"I
didn't know that University Police could
pull people over off campus," graduate
student, Saundra Baker said. "When
I got pulled over off campus, I was really
shocked. Luckily, I was just given a warning."
The
most common violations on campus are usually
speeding, failing to stop for a stop sign
and making unsafe turning movements. Citations
might still be on the rise in the coming
years according to Skipworth.
"I
think for a while, we should expect traffic
violations and traffic as a whole to increase,"
Skipworth said. "I guess, ultimately,
if it gets so crowded, we know speeding
violations won't happen because people won't
be able to speed," he added with a
laugh.
"I
think for a while, we should expect traffic
violations and traffic as a whole to increase."
-- Stan Skipworth, University Police captain
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