The Ohio Supreme Court ruled 5-1 that a police officer’s observation alone is enough to uphold a speeding conviction. A radar gun or other electronic device is unnecessary.
Bucheit said officers often are forced to “use common sense and discretion” when issuing citations if an electronic device isn’t employed or available.
“It may be a case of when you may make a stop based on an observation that it’s gotten to a point where the driver is endangering other drivers or themselves,” Bucheit said.
He added that officers — especially those in the department’s traffic division — can draw on their professional experience using radar and laser devices to underscore ticketing decisions.
Hamilton police issued 2,233 speed-related tickets in 2009, down slightly from the 2008 figure of 2,283 tickets and down from the 2,341 tickets issued in 2007, according to department records.
There was no breakdown available for how many of those were written as a result of observation only — or “pace” — but “I would say that pace would, by far, be the lowest,” Officer Rich Burkhardt said. The majority of the tickets written were the result of radar or other technology, he said.
Last week’s decision upheld the speeding conviction of an Akron-area motorist Mark Jenney, who was caught in July 2008 driving 70 mph in a 60-mph zone. In that instance, the officer’s personal estimate of speed was used because a lower court decided his radar may have caught a passing truck instead; as a result, that evidence was thrown out. The decision summary said the court was upholding a decision made in 1987.
Hamilton resident Jenny Engel said she wasn’t surprised by the Supreme Court’s ruling, and believed it wouldn’t change practices locally.
“I think they’re already doing that,” Engel said as she filled up at the Kroger gas station off Main Street.
Roy Roark, also of Hamilton, issued a stronger position, although he allowed for officers’ discretion in certain situations.
“If they’re driving recklessly, then that’s a different story. But I don’t think enough of the officers are qualified to do it.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2112 or dgreber@coxohio.com.
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