The reader email claimed that the number of tickets and citations issued in Atlanta had grown 20 percent during Reed’s tenure, from 337,697 in 2010 to 404,652 in 2014. "With hundreds of additional officers on patrol, and special tactical units assigned to traffic enforcement, the number of citations issued today versus 2009 will be significantly different, " Torres said in an emailed statement. There are more citations now, she said, because Reed has put more cops on the street in a bid to make Atlanta safer. Reed spokeswoman Anne Torres said traffic citations play an important role in overall public safety. Had Atlanta issued an increasing number of citations – and collected more money – since Reed took office? PolitiFact Georgia decided to check. Department of Justice Department report found a more troubling kind of policing for profit in Ferguson, Mo., saying the city’s court system worked in tandem with police to charge escalating fines for minor offenses such as traffic violations in order to raise revenue.Ī reader reached out via email, arguing Atlanta actually mirrored the troubled Missouri city under Mayor Kasim Reed, when looking at all citations, not just traffic tickets, all in the name of generating income. Anyone who has landed in a speed trap in some never-before-mentioned small town on I-75 in South Georgia understands the most basic example of policing for profit.Ī 2014 analysis by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of five years of traffic fines paid in every police jurisdiction in the state – more than 500 in all – exposed numerous departments raking in exorbitant fine amounts.Ītlanta collected below the metro region average of $116 per capita in fines, but still netted $50.6 million, or $112.98 for every person in the city.Ī scathing U.S.
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