The Battle Ground City Council passed a motion 5-2 to reduce neighborhood speed limits from 25 mph down to 20 mph during the Monday, Oct. 20, meeting that included public testimony.
However, Battle Ground Police Chief Dennis Flynn said on Thursday, Oct. 23, that the move by council will be a challenge to enforce when officer resources are already stretched thin when it comes to traffic enforcement on main thoroughfares.
Battle Ground Mayor Troy McCoy highlighted that during his statement regarding the matter in the Oct. 20 council meeting.
“I go back to what chief told us, and that he does not have the people to monitor this, to enforce this,” McCoy said. “I think we’re going to create a false expectation with our citizens that it is going to be enforced. I think once you go down that slippery slope of passing a resolution or ordinance that you can’t enforce, I don’t like the position that puts us in. That doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate and wish for all our neighborhoods that everybody went 20 miles an hour. Those are two different things.”
Nonetheless, citizens can certainly expect officers patrolling the residential areas of Battle Ground. Flynn said visibility is crucial for the police department.
“We always encourage our officers to go in the residential areas because it’s not just about speed limits, it’s also about being seen in those areas,” he said. “It’s also about disrupting other potential crimes. So there is a tremendous value with having our officers in the residential areas.”
The council members who voted in favor of the motion referenced the number of children who play in neighborhood streets, narrow roads with parked cars on both sides, and more, as reasons for the speed change.
Flynn added that a difference of 5 mph may not provide too much for officers on roads that may have a car every minute or even less.
“Our officers conducting traffic enforcement, from a 25 mph speed limit in most residential areas to now dropping it to a 20 mph speed limit is not going to move the needle much as far as the number of violators that we anticipate our officers encountering,” Flynn said.
Flynn said he has had conversations with Battle Ground’s elected officials.
“Whether the decision was made based off data or based off of community input to the police department doesn’t matter,” he said. “For the police department, all our job is is to enforce the laws that the people enact. It’s that simple.”
Flynn referenced how the department uses force multipliers like the beloved Officer Mann-e-quin that is parked with speed-enforcement radar that triggers overhead lights to flash when speeders pass by.
“There’s a number of ways that we can impact traffic safety,” Flynn said, while also highlighting road engineering methods like speed bumps. “But just lowering a speed limit across the board in residential areas is going to make it very challenging to have our officers meet the expectations that the community might have. And I certainly don’t want the community to feel like this was done as a revenue generator.”
Councilmember Victoria Ferrer and Mayor McCoy voted no on the motion, both citing concerns over stretched-thin law enforcement.
Flynn explained that the National Safety Council recognizes the “Three E’s of Traffic Safety.” Which are engineering, education and enforcement. Flynn highlighted the education portion as a way that can help the enforcement sector.
“The second E for education is making sure the public understands and this is where we’re able to use your services to tell them we do have speeding issues, we do have driver behavior issues,” Flynn said.
Flynn said that based on citizen complaints and what officers see on a daily basis is that the most egregious driving behaviors are on Battle Ground’s major roadways.
“We don’t have, nor does any police department anywhere, have enough officers to put them on every corner,” he said. “That’s unrealistic. You put your police assets in areas that you feel are going to be most effective for what you’re trying to achieve. What we’re trying to achieve is our traffic safety and our traffic engagement, which is evident by the number of increased traffic stops that our officers have been doing year over year.”
