The critics that say “policing for profit” do not have any understanding of the Virginia Law or how Virginia has decided to help fund Law Enforcement. Many large departments fund positions with local safety enforcement fines just like small towns do. That is following the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Town of Eastville Police Department only stops vehicles that are breaking the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, as a matter of fact we are only stopping vehicles that are breaking those laws by a wide margin. I would suggest if citizens are angered by the Police doing the job of enforcing the Laws of the Commonwealth they take it up with the legislature that sets these laws. The Town of Eastville is doing our part for our citizens and the citizens of the Commonwealth in enforcing the laws in a reasonable manner to ensure the highways are as safe as possible. That is not “Policing for Profit” that is doing our jobs. The Town of Eastville uses the safety enforcement fines that are collected to pay for its Police Department and associated costs to the Town. The Citizens of the Town of Eastville benefit by having its own Police Department to serve its citizens without the cost of higher taxes. The Eastville Police Department assists the Northampton County Sheriff's Office and the Virginia State Police on a regular basis which benefits the Citizens of Northampton County. The Eastville Police Department has (6) Full Time Police Officers and (2) Part Time Officers. We regularly work and patrol 18 hours a day and have Officers on call 24 hours a day, so yes we provide 24 hour service to our citizens. The Eastville Police Department works with the Northampton County Sheriff's Office and the Virginia State Police to provide Law Enforcement coverage for our citizens. The Commonwealth of Virginia provides State funding to the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office and the Virginia State Police to provide coverage and the Town of Eastville provides coverage without any State funds only local Town of Eastville funding. I believe this paints the picture of how funding works for Law Enforcement in Virginia and specifically in our local area. This certainly debunks the idea that we are “policing for profit” as the funds go to the general fund of the Town of Eastville and pay for the Police Department. The Police Department offers a competitive wage and a competitive benefit package for the Officers. The Town does offer Over Time for additional safety enforcement to Officers during high traffic time periods. This is the same operational practices that the County and other Towns follow here on the Eastern Shore. I will highlight again that we have a standard speed limit on Rt 13 of 55 mph, there is not reduced speed zone in the Town of Eastville, like a few other Towns in Northampton County.
Chief of Police & Town Administrator, Rob Stubbs
