MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Despite an increase in officers looking for speeders, the City of Memphis is down more than 40,000 tickets from this time last year. That's nearly $600,000 in revenue. It's money the city needs, now police are working to get it.
Memphis resident Karin Barile can't remember her last speeding ticket. "I think I've had one maybe two in my life," she says, "but I try to be careful." Especially with all the flashing blue lights she's seen lately. "In the past few months I have noticed more than say six months ago," she says.
From July 1, 2011 to March 30, 2012, Memphis police officers wrote nearly 45,000 fewer tickets than the year before. That led to a nearly $600,000 decrease in revenue.
City Court Clerk Thomas Long says the decrease was unusual and unexpected. He says with police saturating city highways and streets over the next few months there's a chance the city will come close to breaking even.
January was the first time this fiscal year that MPD wrote more tickets than the year before, with nearly 900 more tickets in January, and more than 2,000 more in February. March was even with the year before. However, a push on safety on the roadways in April led to an increase of nearly 5,500 tickets over April last year.
With April's increase in traffic tickets the City upped revenue by more than $180,000; that's up nearly 20 percent over last year. Long expects the increase to continue in May and June.
