If there is one result that might have come out of the Ferguson, Mo., turmoil over the past year, it’s fewer traffic tickets. The number of tickets for the first four months of 2015 has declined in Kansas City, Kan.
Municipal Court Judge Maurice Ryan said the number of tickets was significantly fewer for the first four months of 2015 as compared to the first four months of 2014. He made his remarks in a report of the state of the Municipal Court to the Unified Government Commission, at a recent Standing Committee meeting.
Ryan told the commissioners that he started to see a decrease in the number of tickets issued by the Police Department this year, comparing the first four months of 2014 with the first four months of 2015.
Traffic tickets were down 39 percent, from 17,081 in 2014 to 10,500 in 2015, over a four-month period, he said.
Animal control cases were down 30 percent, from 1,014 cases to 738 cases filed, he said. The number of parking violations cases was down 10 percent, from 4,343 in 2014 to 3,947 in 2015.
Housing code violation cases were up 57 percent, from 306 cases to 532 cases, he said.
Misdemeanor cases were down 20 percent, from 1,958 in 2014 to 1,595 in 2015. Domestic violence cases were down 5 percent, from 314 in 2014 to 299 in 2015, he added.
While revenues are steady now, Ryan said he is expecting revenues to decline in the future, as there is a lag time until the money is collected.
Ryan said the Department of Justice had 13 recommendations for the Ferguson community, including advising that the police focus on community protection, not revenue enhancement. He said that in Kansas City, Kan., there has been more of a focus this year on community protection.
There were also some recommendations for the Ferguson courts in the Department of Justice report. There was discussion about excessive fines in the report.
Ryan said Municipal Court has been evaluating the fines for individuals to make sure they are not excessive. It is when several fines are piled on top of one another that they might become excessive.
Ryan said the Police Department doesn’t always currently collect information about minorities, but that information was recommended so that data could be collected on traffic tickets based on race and ethnicity.
Ryan said he has never felt any pressure from the local government to use Municipal Court to help fund city government. He said Ferguson depended on municipal court fines for 23 percent of its funds. Kansas City, Kan., receives only 3 percent of its total funds from municipal court fines, he said.
Kansas City, Kan., reviewed its fines a few years ago, he said. The amount of the fine is below average for driving under intoxication violations and above average for driving while suspended violations, he said.
“We are recommending an increase in fines for DUI and a decrease in fines for DWS to be more in line with other cities surveyed,” he said.
Most other cities charge $50 to $100 more for DUI, he said. And other cities charge $150 to $200 less for DWS, and do not require jail or house arrest on the first conviction, he added.
While this might result in a slight decrease in income, the Municipal Court is only collecting 35 to 40 percent of the fines anyway, he said.
Ryan requested the addition of two to three employees to scan in old traffic tickets to the system. Currently, the court is understaffed by two positions.
In Kansas City, Kan., the municipal court processed 38,000 tickets last year with two judges, he said. The court sees about 100 to 125 people a week.
