Dear Editor:

I would like to address the “rant” that was received from Mr. Marvin Burgess regarding the Willow Springs Police. 

 

First let’s get an education on “Speed Trap”!  A speed trap is an area of the road on which hidden police detect people exceeding the speed limit, typically by Radar. That being said, Willow Springs does not set up “speed traps.” Our officers find people speeding by driving the roadways, and observing people traveling towards them at a high rate of speed. Sometimes they park on the side of the road, completely visible to everyone, and run Radar. 

 

Considering in the last year we have had two vehicles traveling through our city in excess of 130 MPH, (and I don’t think they were coming to shop), in fact most that are stopped on Highway 60 are traveling through. Speed contributes to a large percentage of Crashes in Missouri. In fact 95% of the speeding citations issued to people in Willow Springs are from traveling 15 mph or higher over the speed limit.

Common Sense! (If you want to shop in Willow Springs, then why break the law by speeding)

 

I can assure you that if all we were doing was collecting revenue, then we could write a book full everyday for minor violations. The fact is that we target Hazardous Moving Violations to keep our streets safe, and avoid accidents.

 

As for our Revenue; our year to date court expenses are $71,525.86 dollars. Our Police Department expenses are $ 712,296.05 dollars year to date. We have brought in $48,008.06 dollars year to date from citations and other fines. Subtracting those expenses from the revenue brought in from citations, we would be $735,813.85 dollars in the red, which is made up by sales tax. The City of Willow Springs does not get all of the monies from citations; it is divided up into several different Court and State Funds. 

 

On September 7th there were three Traffic Stops made in the City of Willow Springs. 

 

- The first was made at 07:20 AM in town to someone running a stop sign. This person was issued a citation.

 

- The second was made at 12:48 PM, on US-60 around Industrial Dr. In this case a vehicle from Illinois passed our officer at (80) MPH while he was traveling east on US-60. This subject was issued a citation. 

- The third was at 8:30 PM in town for someone running a stop sign. This person was issued a warning. 

 

At 9:47 AM an officer checked on a female on US-60 near the north junction, who had a flat tire. She said she had help coming, and our officer left the scene. 

 

All of the officers working that date were driving a Tahoe, or a Pickup. There was no time that two vehicles were stopped at one time on US-60. In fact Mr. Burgess you apparently spoke to one of our officers at Love’s Truck Stop shortly after, complaining to him about the situation. You told him it was an officer in a white Tahoe. He told you that he was the only officer driving a white Tahoe that day, and he had not made any stops. 

 

Apparently on Monday you came to City Hall yelling at City Personnel about the incident. You were asked to come and speak to me, which you chose not to. Maybe this could have been straightened out then, without you bashing the Police Department in the paper with this false allegation.

 

Wes Ellison 

Chief of Police

Willow Springs Police Dept