DAMASCUS, Ark. (AP) - A prosecutor who determined the tiny Arkansas city of Damascus violated the state’s speed trap laws has now ordered the community’s to cease patrol of all highways.
Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland issued the sanction on Wednesday. In February, Hiland determined Damascus was in violation of the Arkansas speed trap statute because the city’s revenues from fines exceeded 30 percent of the city’s expenditures for two years, the Log Cabin Democrat (https://bit.ly/2qXu44M ) reported.
City Attorney Beau Wilcox said Damascus plans to “vigorously contest” the ruling because of the implications it could have “on the safety of the community and motorists generally.” Wilcox has said that with no street lights to regulate traffic, the local police force is “the only thing controlling traffic flow in Damascus.”
Damascus police will still be able to respond to calls for services, but all traffic infractions will be handled by the Faulkner County and Van Buren County sheriff’s offices and Arkansas State Police.
“I am not unmindful of the need for the City of Damascus to regulate traffic within its jurisdictional limits,” Hiland said. “The residents of the city should not be forced to endure a lack of public safety service as a result of the police department having improperly abused its police power.”
Hiland’s order notes the sanction will remain in place “through the completion of the current prosecutor’s term of office.”
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Information from: Log Cabin Democrat, https://www.thecabin.net
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