Springfield City Council members have approved a resolution designed to improve the Springfield Police Department’s ability to enforce traffic safety.
The resolution to conduct a comprehensive review of the department's operating guidelines was passed unanimously Monday night. The goal is to identify ways to improve traffic enforcement.
The resolution was sponsored by City Councilmen Brandon Jenson and Craig Hosmer. The police chief and city manager’s office also contributed to the bill.
Jenson said the resolution is at its core a “data request” designed to receive feedback from active duty officers and identify any potential obstacles to proactive enforcement. He said it’s needed to address traffic enforcement in the city.
“We wonder why people feel unsafe in our community despite crime trends generally decreasing, and it’s because people see little acts of lawlessness every single day with relatively few examples of enforcement when it happens," he said.
These “little acts of lawlessness,” he said, include drivers running red lights and going 30 miles over the speed limit.
The review will include a variety of information, such as how to balance community trust versus proactive traffic enforcement, data on the enforcement process and the current allocation of city resources towards traffic safety.
The written report is to be turned in to the City Council by July 1 and presented at a City Council meeting on or before July 6.