Arkansas town sanctioned over speed-trap finding seeks OK to put police back on the road

A map showing the location of Damscus
A map showing the location of Damscus

CONWAY -- Damascus will agree to more auditing measures if a prosecutor will grant it relief from traffic-patrol sanctions ordered almost a year ago, the city's attorney said Wednesday.

Those sanctions prohibit the town of about 380 residents from patrolling traffic along a stretch of U.S. 65 that connects Conway to Branson and a state highway that runs through the town because of what a former prosecutor determined was an illegal speed trap.

Damascus lies in Faulkner and Van Buren counties, and the sheriff's offices from those areas along with the Arkansas State Police have been handling patrols.

Prosecuting Attorney Luke Ferguson said Wednesday that he had just received the written request from Damascus City Attorney Beau Wilcox and would review it.

[DOCUMENT: Read letter from Prosecuting Attorney Luke Ferguson]

In a letter to Ferguson, Wilcox noted that the original sanctions, issued by then-Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland, had provided that the town could request relief after one year. That will be May 10. Without relief, the sanctions are to continue through the end of 2018, barring a court order otherwise.

[DOCUMENT: Read letter from City Attorney Beau Wilcox]

"As the summer season is upon us, traffic associated with recreational and leisure activities will undeniably increase, and the City understandably desires to be able to monitor this and responsibly initiate traffic stops and issue citations where appropriate and advisable," Wilcox wrote.

Wilcox said Damascus would agree to additional auditing and accounting measures "for a finite period" because of concerns about the Police Department's "alleged abuse of police power in generating revenue for the City."

He proposed that the city provide the prosecutor's office with "financial data, voluntarily and as a means of verifying its genuine mission to maintain traffic safety rather than generate revenue, each fiscal year for the next three ... years, beginning with the 2018 calendar year."

Wilcox also said he and the town's elected officials will continue to pursue funding for installation of a traffic signal at U.S. 65 and Arkansas 124.

In February, Circuit Judge Chris Carnahan rejected the city's claims that the state's speed-trap law was unconstitutionally vague and arbitrary. The judge has not yet ruled on whether the financial data used by the state police and Hiland to decide the speed-trap issue were properly interpreted and used.

Wilcox asked Ferguson for a decision on relief by May 11 so that he can better advise city officials about "the viability of continuing to pursue" the lawsuit's pending claim.

Since the sanctions took effect in May 2017, the city has downsized its police force from four full-time and two part-time police officers to one part-time officer. As recently as five years ago, Wilcox noted, the city employed as many as seven or eight full- and part-time officers.

Wilcox said the city would maintain a department of no more than two full-time officers and two part-time officers for at least one year if the relief is granted. For now, he said, the city apparently is OK with a senior officer reporting to the mayor and without a designated police chief. The city would advise the prosecutor should that situation change, he said.

Wilcox's letter also referred to the termination "for cause" in early 2017 of former Police Chief Rick Perry, who was not replaced, and noted that Perry's conduct and expenditures came under criminal investigation.

Ferguson said Wednesday, however, that he has decided not to file criminal charges against Perry at this time and, under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, released a copy of an April 24 letter in which Ferguson told the state police of his decision.

"While many of the expenses on Perry's [city] credit card -- especially fast food purchases -- raised concerns for us, I think the available proof falls short of what a jury or judge would need to convict Mr. Perry of a crime," Ferguson wrote.

In response, Wilcox said in an email that "the city has taken steps to ensure that employees do not abuse their authority and discretion."

"If the prosecutor's determination is that then-Chief Perry's actions did not rise to the level of such abuses, then we respect that decision, and continue to wish Rick well in his future endeavors," Wilcox added.

State Desk on 05/03/2018

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