San Luis police cracking down on driving violations

SAN LUIS, Ariz. — Either drivers are committing more infractions here or police are citing them more often. Or both.

After taking a large drop two years ago, the number of traffic tickets written by San Luis police increased for the second year in a row in 2017.

Police issued 2,152 tickets in 2017 for various driving violations, up from 1,886 written in 2016. The prior year, police issued 1,723, a drop from 2,373 given out in 2014.

“We are seeing those numbers (increase the last two years) because of an increase in patrols aimed at preventing accidents,” San Luis police Lt. Miguel Alvarez said. “And we have been able to do it for several years now thanks to the grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.”

That office provides grants to police agencies around the state to help cover the cost of putting extra officers on the streets during peak traffic times.

Alvarez said the police believe they can bring down accident rates in the city through more frequent use of citations or even warnings.

In 2015, for example, as the number of citations dropped significantly, the number of recorded accidents reached a high, 326. The number of accidents fell to 309 the following year as more tickets were issued. However, in 2017, when the number of tickets issued increased over the prior year, the number of accidents likewise increased, to 321.

“It seems there is a correlation between the number of citations that are given to drivers and the number of accidents. The more citations there are, the fewer the accidents, although we can see that that is not always the case,” he said.

The citation statistics for the last several years have been compiled and reviewed as part of an independent audit of the police department’s policies and procedures. The city council ordered the audit last year at the request of interim Police Chief Richard Jessup, who had just assumed command of the department.

The number of arrests for drunken driving in San Luis jumped from 105 in 2014 to 125 the following year, but has declined steadily since, to 68 in 2016 and 56 in 2017, according to statistics.

But the increase in citations doesn’t mean that everyone who gets stopped by San Luis police automatically gets ticketed. The number of warnings given to motorists also has climbed the last two years.

Police gave 2,048 warnings to motorists in 2014, but only 1,156 in 2015. The number of warnings increased to 1,951 in 2016 and then jumped to 3,189 last year.

Alvarez says most infractions are issued for violations occurring on the city’s two major thoroughfares, on Main Street and on Juan Sanchez Boulevard.