Durham police statement

As posted at NBC-17:

The Durham Police Department is aware of the news release sent out by Angry Neighbors with Paintball Guns that mentions concerns about speeding in neighborhoods.

The Durham Police Department enforces traffic laws and we plan to continue to be responsive to traffic concerns from residents throughout the city. We have recently focused on traffic enforcement in the neighborhood where these signs appeared this morning and residents have complimented us on our response.

While we are concerned about speeding in neighborhoods, the Police Department believes that these signs are inappropriate and potentially dangerous. We fear that these signs could be a distraction to even the most law-abiding motorists and possibly cause collisions.

Citizens who engage in the activities advocated by these signs could be subject to civil and even criminal sanctions. By law, if a motorist reasonably believed that his or her property might be damaged, the person who posted these signs could be subject to criminal charges.

We ask residents with concerns about speeding to contact our Traffic Services Unit at 560-4935.

The Pace Car program is inactive at this time due to budget and staffing constraints.

The Police Department's Traffic Services Unit has been active in the neighborhood this summer (these statistics are just from the Motorcycle Unit and do not include tickets written by other officers) -

July 2009
Mangum between Lynch and Trinity: 20hrs - 4 warning tickets - 33 citations.
E. Trinity between Glendale and Mangum: 14hrs - 3 warning tickets - 19 citations.
June 2009
Mangum between Lynch and Trinity: 7hrs - 0 warning tickets - 11 citations.
E. Trinity between Glendale and Mangum: 5hrs - 0 warning tickets - 11 citations.

So, in the month of July, the Durham Police Department spent 46 hours observing traffic violations in the surrounding area. In that 46 hours, they wrote 64 tickets.

About 1.5/hour. Umm, I can find that many speeders on those streets in 2 hours. But even giving them credit for that bit of enforcement, what's 46 hours over the course of a month? And what about the rest of the city that's not between Lynch and Trinity?

I believe the point remains, the City of Durham does not recognize the extent of the problem.

And this is gold: "The Pace Car program is inactive at this time due to budget and staffing constraints."

Let's do better than that, please.

And on a totally separate note, if this is true: "We fear that these signs could be a distraction to even the most law-abiding motorists and possibly cause collisions." Then what does that say for the distractive ability of billboards, especially those electronic billboards that Fairway advertising wants to install on our roads where 65 mph travel is the norm?