atlanta news tagged interest

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A South Georgia city has lost its ability to write speeding tickets for nearly six months after a state investigation uncovered it altered tickets to hide how much the city collected from citations.

According to a letter by the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety (DPS), the agency suspended the speed detection device permits for the city of Lenox for 180 days this past July. The state’s investigation found the city “consistently altered” tickets that “had the effect of excluding the fines and forfeitures for citations issued for speeding.”

Lenox is located about three hours south of Atlanta on Interstate 75, a popular route to Georgia’s coast and Florida.

Contact ANF Investigative Reporter Andy Pierrotti at andy.pierrotti@wanf.com.

According to state investigators, after officers ticketed drivers for speeding, the city often changed citations to “unsafe driving.”

That practice allowed the city to circumvent a state law that caps revenue from speeding fines at 35 percent of a police department’s budget. After the DPS audited the city, it discovered Lenox generated nearly 40 percent from speeding citations last year.

DPS Commissioner Col. William Hitchens said the agency’s investigation found the city altered tickets for years, but only exceeded the state 35 percent cap in 2023.

According to the agency’s audit, city records originally showed it collected $477,685 in revenue from speeding related fines in 2023. After investigators re-calculated the altered tickets, the revenue from speeding-related fines increased to $514,456, a difference of $36,771.

The state initiated its investigation after receiving a complaint this past January from a Florida driver who had his ticket changed. The city’s suspension is scheduled to end in late December.

“It’s an abuse of power,” said Charlie Johnson, who was ticketed by Lenox Police earlier this year. He lives in Stockbridge, Georgia, and doesn’t believe his citation is legitimate. Records show the city altered Johnson’s ticket, too.

“I felt very abused, taken advantage of,” Johnson said.

Twenty-seven days before DPS conducted a hearing sustaining the city’s suspension in August, an Atlanta News First investigation uncovered Lenox relied on the profit from its police force more than any other city in the Georgia.

In 2022, it collected $1.3 million from fines and forfeitures, revenue generated by its police department. That’s nearly 73 percent of the town’s budget.

Lenox city mayor Henry Baker did not respond to Atlanta News First Investigates’ requests for comment about the suspension. During a city council meeting in June, he also declined to answer whether or not Lenox could exist without the profit generated by its police department. Instead, Baker said officers only ticket drivers who speed more than 90 miles per hour.

The city’s police chief, Shane Daughtrey, also did not respond to Atlanta News First Investigates’ requests for comment, but he did apologize during the DPS hearing. “This is just an honest mistake,” Daughtrey said during the hearing. “I did not monitor it, and did not keep up with it. It’s on me. It’s my fault.”

State investigators at the hearing said the practice seemed intentional; they pointed out 85 percent of the police department’s revenue came from fines and forfeitures. An investigator also said Lenox officers only cited one driver for speeding on city streets in three years. The remaining speeding tickets occurred on Interstate 75.

“That tells me there’s not a whole lot of enforcement going on other than the interstate,” said the DPS investigator.

It’s unclear whether Georgia State Patrol will increase enforcement during Lenox’s suspension. “Our agency continuously monitors traffic and safety conditions across all areas of the state and in jurisdictions of each post,” said Courtney Lund, a DPS spokesperson, when asked if it plans to step up patrols in the area. “Any adjustments in patrols are determined based on public safety needs, and ongoing assessments.”

The last time the state suspended a police department’s speed detection permits was in 2019, involving the city of Cecil. According to agency records, the city’s speeding ticket revenue equaled more than 150 percent of its 2018 budget. It also found its police department operated its speed detection devices with a range or testing site.

According to data obtained from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Lenox is among 17 cities in the state that has relied on 25 percent or more of their budgets from traffic citation revenue from 2019 to 2022. The majority are located in South Georgia, including Warwick, Morven, and Poulan, whose respective populations are less than 1,000 residents each.

If there’s something you would like Atlanta News First Investigative Reporter Andy Pierrotti to look into, email andy.pierrotti@wanf.com.