GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Green Bay police have written triple the number of speeding tickets so far this year, compared with 2015.
Alderman and former Green Bay police captain Bill Galvin is happy to hear about the USA Today Network-Wisconsin report.
“It’s unfortunate that we have that many people speeding in the city making it unsafe for residents,” says Galvin. “I’ve received a lot of complaints about speeding throughout the district and I know other alders have since I’ve been sworn in.”
Between 2008 and 2014, the number of tickets written by the Green Bay Police Department fell 83 percent. But in 2016 so far, police handed out 1,266 speeding tickets.
“I know that the alders have been asking for more enforcement, I know the police department wanted to get more enforcement,” Galvin says. “With Chief (Andrew) Smith the way he’s been reworking some of the staffing and getting the officers motivated out there, officers finding more free time to get out there and some overtime money being obtained by the state, all that has come together to give us some of the results we see.”
Speeding in neighborhoods, school zones and around parks have been an issue in Green Bay for many years. Galvin knows that first hand.
“Back when I was on the department and I was a district captain, we would have meetings or do surveys at neighborhood associations, one of the top complaints always was traffic and speeding and reckless driving,” says Galvin. “And that’s going back 10, 15 years.”
Galvin says the ramped up enforcement is helpful as an educational and enforcement measure in order to keep everyone safe. He calls it a, “good start,” and hopes the message gets across to drivers to think twice before speeding on city streets.
