Arlington police have made more stops and issued more citations so far this year compared to the last – and Chief Al Jones said his department shares the concerns by city council members about traffic safety.
“That has been a goal for me is making sure we are out there visible so our community can see that we are out there trying to make traffic stops across the city," Jones said.
Jones’ discussion with council during a Tuesday meeting followed multiple budget-related sessions during which council members flagged a 54% decrease in traffic citations between 2016 and 2023.
Law enforcement agencies across the country made fewer stops in 2020 due to the spread of COVID-10 and amid heightened sensitivity to officers following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Jones said.
“We are coming out of something that we’ve never been into before,” Jones said.
Andrew Piel, District 4 council member, said he respects officers’ work and unprecedented circumstances that affected agencies.
“That being said, there’s been some pretty undeniable statistics regarding citizen concerns regarding traffic safety in Arlington, as well as fatality crashes, and what appears to be some very eye-opening statistics regarding traffic citations being written,” Piel said.
Council members’ concerns aren’t new to Jones, whose department implemented its Safe Roads Initiative in March 2023 as the number of fatal crashes threatened to surpass the deadliest year on record in the city. The initiative has involved increased traffic enforcement in areas with high amounts of crashes; outreach to motorists and pedestrians; and education on road safety.
Officers between Jan. 1 and July 31 have made 44,067 stops – a 10% increase compared to the same timeframe in 2023, according to a report to council members. The amount of traffic stops with one or more citations increased by 18%.
The number of crashes that have occurred in intersections, ending in injury or death are down, but pedestrian deaths are up, Jones said. Eight pedestrians have died in Arlington this year, with the majority of deaths reported on or near Cooper Street and Interstate 20, according to a map provided to Arlington City Council.
Police have focused particularly on pedestrian safety this year through the department’s initiative, Jones said.
“We’re actually getting out and trying to educate our pedestrians on getting across the street safely,” he said. “If we can actually move the pedestrians out, which account for about 35% of our fatal accidents around here, we would be in a better situation.”
The police department has increasingly relied on technology to determine areas of town with heightened incidents, Jones said.
Keith Brooks, public works director, said his department is looking for ways to improve traffic signal system technology.
Arlington City Council Tuesday evening approved a $580,485 contract with the Transcore ITS, LLC, to evaluate and make recommendations on improving Arlington’s technology to monitor intersections.
“If we have intersections where people are running red lights, we can at least let the police know,” Brooks said. “It’s not like a red light camera or anything like that, but it at least gives them data that they can take a look at.”
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