Too few police officers cited as reason for lack of citations
two months after authority was given for public police patrols in
the community
By rachelle gines Staff Writer
Gilroy – Two months after speed limits were raised in the Eagle Ridge development and police given authority to patrol in an effort to crack down on speeding, officials said Monday very few – if any – citations are being written because of a lack of available officers.
“I don’t know that there’s been any citations given. That is done when time and resources permit,” Gilroy Police Department Sgt. Kurt Svardal said. Police said citation statistics for the Eagle Ridge area were not available.
In April, a divided city council agreed to begin enforcing 30 mile per hour speed limits – up from 25 mile per hour speed limits – in order to make a ticket stand up in court. The 4-3 vote affects traffic areas along a quarter-mile of road between the Eagle Ridge golf clubhouse – a public facility – and the community gatehouse off Santa Teresa Boulevard.
The enforcement came about after some residents in the gated community complained that motorists routinely ignored the 25 mile per hour speed limit. They were met with opposition from other residents worried city money would be used to patrol the private community.
The community’s traffic woes emerged in part from an arrangement between developer Shapell Industries and city leaders, who agreed to exempt the community from certain zoning requirements during the development phase in the late ’90s. The deal allowed Shapell to install narrow roads that would not normally meet local zoning codes and freed the city from traffic-enforcement duties within the gated community. The private housing community has seen at least three major car accidents in recent years.
Due to the lack of a dedicated traffic officer, Svardal said traffic enforcement for the entire city rests on the four officers and one supervisor on patrol on a typical day.
“Traffic citations come on the back of regular patrol officers. No one is specifically set to patrol Eagle Ridge,” Svardal said. “It’s not just Eagle Ridge that we get traffic complaints from, but we get them from any residential neighborhood.”
Svardal said the police department is currently searching for a qualified traffic officer. The position has been vacant for about year, since the department promoted former traffic officer Joe Crivello to corporal.
“The more resources you have, the more you can do,” Svardal said. “The city has been fiscally sound and we’ve done a good job meeting its needs.”
City councilman Roland Velasco said he hasn’t heard of any citations at Eagle Ridge, but said the council’s message to the housing community’s residents was clear. Velasco voted for the speed increase in early April.
“Council made the decision with the understanding that Eagle Ridge residents knew there wasn’t going to be a police officer there every day,” Velasco said.
Velasco further clarified the reason for the speed increase.
“Our goal was to make sure by increasing the limit, citations become enforceable, not necessarily that police will patrol the area,” Velasco said.
Craig Gartman voted against the speed increase in April. The city councilman said he has seen some police patrol in Eagle Ridge’s small public corridor, but hesitated to say whether the speed increase was effective or not.
“It’s still too early to determine if its good or bad,” Gartman said. “Let’s give it a year and see what happens.”
Gartman said he hasn’t heard anything positive or negative from Eagle Ridge residents.
“Sometimes no news is good news,” Gartman said.
Catherine Bruno said she isn’t so sure that the speed limit is working. She acknowledged that police do not have to patrol her private street, but said that speed enforcement at the development’s entrance might help curb speeding within the neighborhood.
“People are driving at speeds of 40 or 50 miles per hour,” said the mother of two from her handsomely-decorated home. “Once, while the children were playing, I had to run out and stop a speeding car, but it just swerved around me.”
Bruno said posted signs aren’t working, and because of that, there is a need for police enforcement.
“If people are speeding, and they know the law is not being enforced, they could care less. Enforcement is key,” Bruno said.
Along with four other mothers on Lahinch Drive, Bruno said she has put up orange cones to alert drivers of playing children.
“Why bother to change the law if there is no one there to enforce it?” Bruno said.
Rachelle Gines is an intern attending San Francisco State University. Reach her at 847-7158 or rg****@gi************.com.
