Little Rock - Arkansas law bans speed traps. The "speed trap" bill bans a city from taking more than 30 percent of its revenue from traffic tickets. A department can’t write more than half of its speeding tickets on for less than 10 miles an hour over the speed limit. Either is a violation.
KATV is investigating Gould as a possible “Speed Trap.”
The state of Arkansas has a very strict law prohibiting cities from running certain speed traps. Through a Channel 7 investigation, it was discovered that the city of Gould may be in violation.
The city has a population of less than 700. It's a heavily traveled area with several vehicles passing by on Highway 65.
In Arkansas, there is a law prohibiting speed traps in certain circumstances. Amended in 2019 by Sen. Jason Rapert and Rep. Michelle Gray, Act 364 aims to dissuade police departments from using their power to write citations for revenue over public safety.
There is a simple mathematic equation involved to see if a city is using citations for revenue. In short, the city's revenue from certain moving violations in 2020 cannot exceed 30 percent of its 2019 expenses. In other words, if more than 50 percent of tickets are written from 10 miles-per-hour or less than the posted speed limit.
In order to find out if Gould is in violation, KATV sent a Freedom of Information request for the city's financial reports on June 15. According to the law, they have three days to provide the requesting information, but it wasn't until two months later, after several unanswered emails to City Attorney Clint Todd, that KATV received those documents from Matthew Smith, the mayor of Gould.
KATV then took those records to a certified accountant. Without even taking away excluded expenditures, the math showed the total to be 34.75 percent, which would be in violation of the law.
When KATV questioned Police Chief Kenneth Tillman, he accused KATV of harassing the town and offered no further comment.
Todd, the city attorney, later explained that the court settlements are not solely moving violations. He said other offenses are included, like disorderly conduct, domestic battery, and assault. However, he could not provide how many are moving violations.
The way an investigation is started is through the prosecuting attorney, who in this case would be Kyle Hunter.
KATV scheduled a meeting with Hunter to show what the investigation found and we are awaiting his decision on whether to launch a speed trap investigation.
According to the law, if an investigation is started by state police, the city of Gould has 30 days to submit a breakdown of their financial records, unless they apply for an extension.
