EASTVILLE, Va — You don’t want to speed if you’re driving through the Eastern Shore, especially in the town of Eastville.
Law enforcement in the small town writes thousands of traffic citations for speeding each year.
The News 3 Investigative Team continues to follow through on this issue after first reporting on this last December. Now, a nonprofit law firm, Institute for Justice, is investigating the town and is interested in speaking with people who got speeding tickets.
Watch previous coverage: Don't speed on the Eastern Shore, especially in Eastville
It’s common to see people pulled over by law enforcement while driving along Route 13.
Eastville resident Michael Guerra said you can see people getting stopped all day long. He said he supports the intense traffic enforcement.
“It keeps the traffic down. This is one of the biggest routes to go up the East Coast and too many people speed, especially if they are not from around here,” said Guerra.
However, some think the enforcement is excessive.
Eastville resident Stuart Oliver has been outspoken about this for a long time. He said for years, officers have been “harvesting the tourists” who drive along the busy Route 13.
Eastville has roughly 300 people living in the town, according to Census information. However, their officers have written way more tickets than many of the other cities in our area.
Institute for Justice, the group that's now investigating traffic enforcement in Eastville, says its mission is to “end widespread abuses of government power and secure the constitutional rights that allow all Americans to pursue their dreams.”
“We're currently just trying to speak with people who have been stopped by law enforcement while passing through Eastville,” said John Wrench, an Institute for Justice attorney.
They said they especially want to speak to people who meet either, or both, of the following criteria:
- People who have been stopped in Eastville in the last two years
- People who have information about what is going on with the ticket-writing process in the town
Watch previous coverage: Exmore Chief takes News 3 Investigative Team on ride-along to show speeding problem
Wrench said one of the group's biggest concerns is that law enforcement fines make up the majority of the town's income. He said they're also concerned about the large increase in the public safety budget in recent years.
Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the WTKR News 3 Investigative Team obtained budget information that breaks down income, expenses, losses and profits for Eastville. You can view the budget information we obtained by clicking on the link below.
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Town of Eastville budget information
News 3 showed this budget information to ODU professor Ron Carlee, who spent time as the City Manager of Charlotte, NC, and the County Manager of Arlington, Virginia.
He said the majority of the budget's makeup comes from policing.
“That is pretty much the town’s structure, other than the small water system that they have," said Carlee. "They're sitting on Highway 13 and they have the ability to collect a lot of fines.”
He said they are building their town around being able to sustain a very heavy speed enforcement program.
The following graph shows the amount of income to the town through law enforcement fines, according to data sent to us from town leadership.
Critics describe what’s going on as policing for profit.
“When you have this legitimate interest in public safety merging with the financial incentive to generate revenue, it simply creates a perverse incentive for law enforcement,” said Wrench.
Eastville's former Chief of Police, Rob Stubbs, was fired for unknown reasons in April.
At that time, Eastville Mayor Jim Sturgis told News 3 that the council had lost faith in Stubbs as Eastville's town manager and police chief, but he did not elaborate.
News 3 obtained documents that show Stubbs was given a $53,000 severance check.
Stubbs previously told News 3 that the town is following the law and not policing for profit.
We’ve asked current leadership about the investigation by the Institute for Justice, Stubbs' firing, and allegations of policing for profit. The mayor said the town is not going to comment.
Stubbs previously told us they only stop drivers going 70 miles per hour or more with the posted speed limit at 55. He and other residents said excessive speeding is a dangerous problem and the enforcement is necessary.
Critics say if slowing down traffic is the main goal, there are ways to achieve that other than writing a lot of tickets—especially when most of the people getting tickets are from out of town.
“You can add larger signs. You can add more signs. You can do things to draw people's attention to the fact that there’s a speed change. You can have the blinking speed lights that tell you how fast you're going. But when those things aren't used as much as they could, and instead you see cities and towns turn into speed traps, I think that that can be an indication of what the actual priority is there,” said Wrench.
Regardless of how you feel, there is one thing that is certain: if you drive on the Eastern Shore, watch your speed.
Brianna Lanham contributed to this story.
