Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

more officers more money

Well if running red lights is such an issue with the Pickerington Police Chief then why is there never a cop there when we need one? Ever since this issue has been on the council agenda I have had a couple of opportunities to sit and watch the people and the traffic at the main intersection in Pickerington. That being Refugee and Hill roads. Waiting on my car to be repaired is like watching paint dry. I never see any officers sitting at or near that intersection waiting for those that might misjudge the timing of the light or try to cheat the light by running an obvious red light. Yet with no police at all we still only see ONE accident involved with running a light.

So the argument that we will see more police on the streets because they will not be watching the intersections for drivers running these red lights is a false argument in itself. They don?’t devote any police to these intersections now so nothing changes when the cameras are present. In fact with the cameras in pace they will need someone to review and sign off on the tickets being issued.

As for the Police Chief supporting these cameras that is the line all Police Chiefs use when they might see more revenues. If the police departments had their way they would have us all driving around at 20 MPH and four way stops signs at EVERY intersection. Clearly the more officers they supervise the more money they can ask for in their pay checks.

Wow!

Over-generalize much?

Perhaps the reason you never see cops sitting in cruisers at intersections like Refugee and Hill is that at most times there are only four cops on patrol in the entire town. Yet you think it's a good idea to have one of them sitting watching intersections? Great idea!!

Addressing a non problem

What I am saying is that there are no officers watching the traffic lights now so how does addressing a problem that doesn't exist help the police department? Clearly it doesn't.

By installing the cameras we might reduce the number of accidents by one; down to 103 in a year. What we don't know is how much will it back up traffic, will it cause more rear end accidents and how will the police department be perceived if the voters start getting tickets mailed to them because their car ran a light?

Remember the police department is supported by police levies and income tax voted on by the voters who will be directly affected by these cameras. The tax issue failed by 65%; aggravating the public won't improve those numbers.

Non-problem?

Which are you; a retired home body or a work from homer?

Clearly you don't drive Hill Road between 70 and Diley with any sort of regularity. If you did you would see what we commuters see every single day and that is a constant stream of cars turning left long after the light has gone red or those that blatantly running red lights.

How long does this have to go on before a near miss accident (which in your book does not count) results in a serious case of road rage and someone gets chased through the streets or worse.

You sound more and more like the old school group that still believes Pickerington is nothing more than a little farm town stuck in the early 1970's. Time to face facts, this city is becoming more urbanized each and every day. All the problems of the big cities are no longer on the doorstep... they're in the living room.