Hollister
– Despite the Hollister Police Department’s purchase of nine new
hand-held radar units with a 2005 state grant, speeding and traffic
violations continue to be a problem in the city, Chief Jeff Miller
said.
Hollister – Despite the Hollister Police Department’s purchase of nine new hand-held radar units with a 2005 state grant, speeding and traffic violations continue to be a problem in the city, Chief Jeff Miller said.
“I don’t have the number of officers to mount a good traffic enforcement effort,” Miller said.
In 2004, the department issued 423 speeding tickets, Capt. Richard Vasquez said. In 2005, the department issued 252 and through the first 10 months of this year, it had issued 241, he said.
“We had more staffing then than we do now,” Vasquez said. “It’s tough when you’re going from call to call to make traffic stops.”
Principal Bernice Smith of Marguerite Maze Middle School said speeding is a problem near schools.
Her school has had Hollister patrol cars and even the county marshal at the school issuing tickets in the past year. However, she agreed that the police department does not have the resources to maintain a constant presence.
“I think part of the problem is the Hollister Police Department is so understaffed that they can’t cover all the schools at the same time,” Smith said.
Smith said the school appreciates any help police can provide. In the days following a patrol car’s presence, she said, speeding seems to subside.
But speeders soon forget.
“Unless there’s a visible HPD car or something like that … it’s difficult,” Smith said.
County Supervisor Jamie De La Cruz said he did not think speeding is a major issue in Hollister. For De La Cruz, there are larger problems in the city.
“The good thing about (focusing on speeding ) is it adds money to the general fund,” De La Cruz said. “But we have gang problems. We have job problems.”
De La Cruz believes the police department should focus its limited resources on gang activity in the city.
“Do you want that police officer out there radaring for speeders? Or do you want that police officer out there patrolling for gangs?” De La Cruz said.
However, Miller said the department sees more people injured or killed and property lost to traffic accidents than to violent crime.
“I would love to be able to put more officers out there because this community needs it,” Miller said. “We lose our children to traffic accidents.”
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected].
