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North Hampton - Anatomy of a speed trap

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By Valerie Lough, Staff Writer Updated 7:32 AM Monday, March 8, 2010

“Reduced speed ahead. Speed checked by radar.”

The warning looms at each end of the village, advising approaching motorists that North Hampton police take speed enforcement seriously.

A News-Sun investigation of police ticketing practices found officers wrote 1,296 citations in 2008, nearly four times more traffic tickets than the 352 people who live in North Hampton. That’s a higher rate than any other village in Clark and Champaign county and near the top in the state.

Village officials and area law enforcement don’t hide the fact that they ticket heavile. Their greatest safety concern in their town is speed, they say.

But they do mind the label placed on them — “speed trap.”

“To me entrapment is when you’re presenting something (false) and then luring them in,” said Chief Jarrod Campbell, North Hampton Police Department. “We don’t force people to speed.”

Some tall tales have emerged from the North Hampton speed trap legend, which dates back at least to the early 1990s. Stories that motorists are ticketed when traveling just a few miles an hour over the speed limit appear to be unfounded, according to 2008 data. All of the speeding tickets issued that year were written to drivers who exceeded the speed limit by 10 mph or more.

“I’ve been here for nine years, I’ve never written one like that,” said Campbell. “If any of my officers ever wrote one, I’d like to know about it.”

The volume of citations is fierce. In 2008, the village ranked fifth among traffic caseloads in Ohio’s 330 mayor’s courts, according to Ohio Supreme Court data.

Some of those citations were written for lesser offenses such as missing plate lights or a cracked windshield.

Steve Lannom got a ticket for a loud muffler just two weeks after the catalytic converter was stolen from his car.

Lannom went to mayor’s court in North Hampton and the charge was dropped, but he felt it never should have been brought in the first place.

“I think it’s taking it a little bit too far,” he said. “A warning would have been better.”

Village's reputation precedes it

In late 2008, Cynthia Rice planned to spend her Saturday like many other local residents do in October — she piled her two granddaughters into the car and headed to a fall festival.

Her journey would take her north from Springfield along Ohio 41 through a tiny village whose name, to some, is synonymous with “speed trap.”

“One of the last things my husband said to me before I was going out was, ‘Don’t forget about North Hampton,’” said Rice.

She didn’t.

Rice, who said she had not received a traffic ticket in her life, obeyed the village speed limit, 35 mph, but was surprised when she was pulled over anyway.

Rice was cited for “following too close” according to North Hampton Police Department records.

“I never thought I was that close to (the vehicle ahead) that I couldn’t have stopped when he stopped,” she said. “I was totally floored.”

The village’s reputation as a speed trap has endured since at least the mid 1990s. A dispute from that time over whether village police ticket too heavily eventually found its way into the 2nd District Court of Appeals in 2001.

The village’s reputation is untrue and undeserved, according to North Hampton police, residents and village officials.

“Just because you had a group of people who thought it was a speed trap at one time doesn’t make it a speed trap,” said Rick Shaw, village councilman. “To me a speed trap is a matter of opinion. And the people who think this is a speed trap are the ones who got the tickets.”

But a review of all the tickets written in 2008 found the village police department’s ticket-writing policies enables the village to pay for nearly the entire cost for running its police department from the proceeds of the tickets. The village police write tickets at a rate higher than all but four other small communities in the state, and at a rate much higher than larger cities.

Tickets in 2008

An examination of all traffic citations issued by North Hampton police in 2008 found 1,296 tickets were issued, more than three tickets for every resident in the village. There are 352 residents in the village, according to the latest U.S. Census estimates.

The same year, Springfield police issued one traffic ticket for every 14 residents, and in Urbana, police there wrote one ticket for every nine residents.

Campbell said a comparison of the number of tickets written in 2008 against the village population is an unfair measure of police work in North Hampton.

“We have a large amount of vehicles that go through the village,” he said. “You have to look at the traffic flow, not what the size of the town or village is.”

Ohio 41 is not a sleepy, rural thoroughfare. It is the most direct route between two county seats — Troy and Springfield. According to a 2008 survey conducted by the Ohio Department of Transportation, 5,040 cars and trucks travel through North Hampton every day —more than 1.8 million vehicles a year.

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I am an officer in a busy larger area in Montgomery County. How many have heard of the broken windows theory. Yes, visibility does reduce crime/traffic violations and not allowing the little things to slide can also reduce crime/traffic violations. I see a lot of complaints from people most of whom probably do not like any sort of authority. Laws are there for a reason, when we start making excuses as to why we should be able to break them then there is a problem. Do what is right! Good day

A Police Officer
6:49 PM, 5/9/2010

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Y'all remember now...when seconds count, the cops are minutes (sometimes hours) away. This is not necessarily true in NH 'cause pretty soon now, the traffic stop will be completed and the bully with his hawglaig is a goin' to be rat thar and his fat-assed self 'Chiefie' will hep you rat out.

What can you expect of trained and qualified individuals who work for minimum wage? Just can't say enough for those who wear the badge can we

Bear
10:28 PM, 5/3/2010

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If North Hampton PD is funded by speed traps primarily, how much of that funding is used for Car 02 to travel from North Hampton and park at 7510 Sesame Street in Huber Heights? Is the village paying for this car to be used as personal transportation? Who is authorizing the use of the vehicle to travel to Huber Heights.

One must understand that the speed trapping is not being effectively carried out when this car is parked in a private drive on Sesame Street...get that car back on duty.

Bear
7:01 PM, 5/3/2010

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i live in north hampton and it SUCKS. All they do is try to get you for stupid stuff. ive lived in here for 11 years and i am still tryin to get out of this place ever since then. they pulled my brother over for a busted headlight and it wasnt busted, cracked or even low.he had 4 beers in a matter of 9 hours and they sdaid that he was drunk and disorderley. they are the biggest rent a cops in the world. they also say that you are not able to have any dirtbikes but it has never stopped me

tyler mccurry
1:14 PM, 4/30/2010

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Okay so if this town police departement is so great then why do we get pulled over for going 34 miles per hour and having everything on our car in working condition and no swerving at all?

I can see why a local would want to live here the town is small and it has many officers. The tickets pay for the police so that with the town staying small they can have a quick response time if the town grows much the officers response time would be slower.

going 34 and pulled over
1:05 AM, 4/25/2010

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