SEQUIM — If you’ve been fined $154 for speeding in Sequim, you belong to one big club.
That’s because when it comes to writing traffic tickets, the Sequim Police Department has been putting the pedal to the metal for close to three years now.
Consider 2005, the year Chief Robert Spinks arrived on the scene. Patrol officers wrote a paltry 218 citations from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31.
In 2007, Spinks’ force apprehended 1,266 speeders, red-light runners and other moving violators.
In the first eight months of 2008, the pace has stepped up still higher: Sequim cops have already written 1,070 traffic tickets.
And the fines, which go from $124 for 6 to 10 mph over the speed limit to $154 for 11 to 15 mph over? They’ve generated $43,143.36 in revenue for the city.
That’s up from $4,804.22 in 2005.
Sequim’s 5,951 residents have on their police force 19 sworn officers, 10 of whom patrol the streets.
This town has become known around Clallam County as citation central, say two county officials: Commissioner Mike Chapman and Administrator Jim Jones.
