INSIDE the Lakeland Police Department

Do I Stop or Be Careful and Prudent?

One of the nuances coming out of the new law permitting photo enforcement of red light running violations in Florida is the "careful and prudent" standard for right turns on red. A full stop is not required for photo enforcement activities. Drivers may roll through an intersection, provided they are careful and prudent, and will not receive a Notice of Violation from our red light camera program.

However, drivers need to understand careful and prudent only applies to photo enforcement and not when enforced by an officer on scene.

The statute for right turns on red still requires drivers to come to a full stop at the white stop bar before entering the designated crosswalk or the intersection itself. Careful and prudent is not the standard here - coming to a complete stop remains the standard.

Confused? Join the club.

Here is the bottom line - you are always safe if you come to a complete stop before turning right on red. After all, it is still the law in Florida. We will use the new careful and prudent standard for photo enforcement of red light running violations at the five monitored intersections. Officers working traffic in the field will still use discretion during their enforcement efforts, but an officer observing a driver rolling through an intersection may issue a uniform traffic citation for the offense regardless of whether the driver was careful and prudent.

It's best to stop before turning right on red.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Red Light Camera Update

The new state statute authorizing photo enforcement of red light running violations went into effect July 1, 2010. This statute preempts camera enforcement to the state, and thus puts all local programs under statutory guidelines rather than municipal ordinances. We completed our conversion process and started enforcement this week in accordance with F.S.S. 316.083. I thought we would take a moment to highlight some key points of RLC information this weekend.

• All violations occurring prior to July 1 have been reviewed and approved for Notices of Violation to be issued. If you committed a violation in June, you should be receiving your Notice in the mail soon.

• Appeals for violations prior to July 1 will use the process outlined in our municipal ordinance by scheduling a hearing before a Code Hearing Officer. We will utilize that process until all appeals for pre-July 1 violations are completed. Follow the instructions on the back of your Notice should you want to schedule a hearing.

• We started reviewing violations occurring on or after July 1 this week and noted approval of those events that are clear violations. Notices of Violation are in the mail at this time and should be arriving soon.

• Right turns on red are now being enforced under the new "careful and prudent" standard rather than the previous standard of stopping at the white stop bar (or at least significantly slowing down when rolling through the intersection). We fully expect to issue far fewer Notices of Violation for right turn on red violations under the new less stringent standard.

• Remember my earlier comment that photo enforcement was now preempted by the State of Florida? Among other things that means the fine amount is now established by the State rather than the City of Lakeland, and so the Notices contain a higher fine - $158 instead of the previous $125 - in accordance with the statute.

We will check in from time to time and keep the community updated on information related to the new red light camera enforcement procedures, but we continue to encourage everyone to Stop on Red and drive carefully.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Traffic Safety and Protest Marches

We want to let the public know about plans to close a portion of South Florida Avenue on Sunday afternoon as the Coalition of Immokalee Workers prepares to conduct a protest march in the road between Southgate and Munn Park that afternoon. Northbound traffic will be diverted from the roadway starting around 2:00 PM on Sunday and lasting until 4:00 PM or so as the protesters make their way up the road. Southbound traffic will not be affected.

Traffic will be detoured around the group as they make their way north on South Florida Avenue. The march will go north on South Florida Avenue to Walnut Street, east on Walnut to Lake Morton Drive, and then north on Kentucky Avenue to Munn Park.

Both the Lakeland Police Department and the Florida Department of Transportation reviewed the road closure application and subsequently approved the request.

I realize some drivers will be inconvenienced with the march occurring in the roadway on a Sunday afternoon (glad it's not on a Friday evening at 5:00 PM), but we checked with our General Counsel and determined the march was a constitutionally protected event that we would have a hard time denying. Additionally, the CIW is paying the overtime expenses required for the officers and supervisors needed to safely escort the protesters from Southgate to Munn Park. On-duty resources are not expected to be used for the event.

With the exception of some noise emanating from the people participating in the march, we do not anticipate any problems along the route or at the rally/concert at Munn Park that follows.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

"Don't You Have Something Better To Do?"

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone asked me if I had something better to do than what I was doing at the moment. Such was the situation with a letter we received this week asking if we had better things to do than issue parking tickets at Peterson Park for vehicles parking directly under NO PARKING signs.

Hmmm, let me think about this one for a moment...

As a matter of fact, we do have other things we could be doing. However, none are more important than ticketing lazy drivers who choose to ignore the signs erected to create a safe zone for people to walk on the side of the road.

If you have ever attended a game at Peterson Park and had to park in the farthest lot, you realize there is very limited space to walk up to the fields along the main road into the park. Drivers who choose to ignore the NO PARKING signs and park along the roadway instead of the outer lot end up forcing pedestrians to walk in traffic and dodge cars - not a very safe option.

The signs were installed there for a reason rather than by accident or with the intent to harass people - the signs are there to provide a safe walking path for pedestrians, particularly kids, by keeping them out of the main roadway. We have enforced those no parking restrictions in the past and have every intention of enforcing them this year, too.

In my opinion, this one has an easy fix - help keep our kids safe by obeying the NO PARKING signs. You'll avoid getting a parking ticket and allow us to focus enforcement efforts on other areas that require our attention.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Promoting Bike Helmet Safety with Amscot Financial

LakelandPD partnered with Amscot Financial and other law enforcement agencies in central Florida last week to distribute free bike helmets to pre-school and elementary school children. The helmets were donated by Amscot as part of their annual corporate program to promote bike safety for children. This was the seventh year for the helmet giveaway.

Officers Wesley and Kendrick and our Crime Prevention Unit joined volunteers from the Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association and Amscot management at their location at 614 East Memorial Boulevard to hand out the free helmets and make sure they fit properly.

Our volunteers tell us seeing the smiles on the children's faces is reward enough for assisting with this program, but we do appreciate their time to make this effort such a success. And thanks to Amscot for continuing their commitment to making sure children have a helmet to ride their bikes safely.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere
 

Teaching Traffic Safety to Teen Drivers

Traffic crashes continue to be the leading cause of death among 15 - 20 year olds. Teaching traffic safety and the importance of defensive driving is one way we can reduce the chances our teenagers will die in a traffic crash.

The website of Florida's Attorney General announced this week is National Teen Driver Safety Week. I found a comprehensive list of web sites that parents can visit to get more ideas how we can drive home the safety message to teen drivers. It's a important discussion that parents need to begin in the home.

Our Traffic and Crime Prevention Units are available should you want us to visit a youth group at your school, church or other place of worship, or some other youth organization to discuss the dangers of unsafe driving. We welcome the opportunity to partner with the Polk County Sheriff's Office to bring SIDNE (Simulated Impaired Driving Experience) to your youth group as well.

To schedule a presentation, call us at 863-834-6900.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Update on Seatbelt Enforcement

In case you noticed extra officers along Florida Avenue in the Downtown or Dixieland areas yesterday, you observed our seatbelt enforcement initiative underway. Officers focused their enforcement efforts at Main Street and Florida Avenue from 7:30 - 9:00 AM and at South Florida Avenue and Cresap Street from 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM.

A total of 83 citations were issued during these times. Officers ticketed 68 drivers for not wearing their seatbelt, 5 passengers, and one driver received a citation for failure to have a child properly restrained.

Florida law recently changed permitting seatbelt enforcement to be a primary rather than secondary issue. Officers previously had to observe another violation before being able to stop a driver who was not wearing a seatbelt. Officers may now stop a driver upon observing someone not properly restrained by their seatbelt.

The Lakeland Police Department will continue to aggressively enforce the seatbelt law. We encourage drivers to wear the seatbelts at all times and require all passengers to do so in their car.

We are committed to the concept of "Click It or Ticket".

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Click It or Ticket

Lakeland Police officers from our Traffic Section conducted enhanced enforcement activity on Memorial Day yesterday as part of the nationwide "Click It or Ticket" campaign. The following results speak for themselves.

• 72 - Seatbelt violations
• 45 - Speeding violations
•  7 - Moving violations
•  6 - Criminal citations
•  4 - Moving violations

We continue to urge drivers and passengers to buckle up, slow down, and quite possibly safe a life.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Social Media and Traffic Enforcement

I saw a couple of tweets and retweets on Twitter today in which the authors were advising followers where the police were engaged in traffic enforcement. Okay, our use of the term "traffic enforcement" was called "speed traps" or "hidden speed patrol" by others, but you get the picture. Social media was being used to get the word out to drivers to slow down in these areas because police officers were doing their jobs.

We appreciate the help in getting drivers to slow down.

Our goal in conducting speed enforcement or catching drivers running red lights is not to write massive amounts of tickets (really, it's not). We consider it a successful day when everyone driving through the area obeys the speed limit or stops at traffic signals so we cannot write a single ticket. To think that social media might be another tool to reduce speeds, prevent crashes, and save lives is a novel way forTwitter, Facebook, and other forms of social media to help a police department (or other government agency) spread the word and improve the quality of life in our community.

Regretfully, there are still enough non-Twitter users out there that our officers stay fairly busy writing speeding tickets all day long. Maybe one day...

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

LHS Seat Belt Enforcement Update

No one could have predicted the unplanned impact at the start of this morning's seat belt initiative at Lakeland High School. As TV crews were setting up to broadcast live from the scene, a traffic crash occurred on Bartow Hwy at the entrance to LHS. A student coming to school made a left turn in front of oncoming traffic and collided with another car, which had the right of way.

Once things settled down a bit, a total of 34 traffic citations were issued by LPD officers, with 30 of those for seat belt violations.

Now you may ask if 30 seat belt violations is good or bad - and I will tell you it depends. We issued a higher number of citations during some previous initiatives, so perhaps the educational efforts to buckle up are working. On the other hand, even one violation is one too many. Our goal was to write zero citations, but no such luck today.

And the real irony of the day - the young driver who caused this morning's crash...well he wasn't wearing his seat belt at the time either.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere