At the March 3 meeting of the Windsor Town Council, Windsor police chief Ruben Martinez gave a brief presentation after complaints from townsfolk and council members about the prevalence of loud cars and reckless driving within the town over the past few months, a complaint echoed across many cities in Sonoma County.
Martinez started by describing the current status of vehicle accident statistic and current methods for traffic enforcement.
“Overall, vehicle accidents have gone down,” he said. “We use a speed trailer and try to move it every week. The reason the trailer is a good tool is that it reminds drivers of their speed and if they are going over the speed limit, but it also collects data that shows the days and times vehicles are speeding and that data is used to work traffic enforcement for specific days and times where people are driving too fast.”
Martinez added that they usually inform citizens via social media when and where traffic enforcement will be occurring.
However, complaints and data show a preponderance of speeding vehicles and loud exhaust occur on Friday and Saturday nights, which are difficult to patrol because there is usually less Windsor police presence at this time, in part due to schedules and budgeting and in part because those are the times when other calls for services are also increased.
“I’ve assigned a deputy to overtime the last few weekends, just for traffic enforcement, hoping the extra enforcement will impact the speeding vehicles and to write some tickets for loud exhaust,” Martinez said. “Unfortunately, I cannot keep posting overtime, I have an overtime budget and can’t deplete it.”
The council weighed in with support for Martinez, but expressed frustration that there wasn’t a clearer solution.
“It’s becoming evident for me that we need have to talk about adding other officer,” said Councilmember Debora Fudge, adding that despite the fact she isn’t out and about much she has come across multiple incidents of speeding, drivers doing donuts in the middle of intersections, revving and roaring engines and more. “(It’s) driving me nuts, I’m getting lots of emails … it starts to happen at dusk … I think it’s 10 or 15 of the same people. We definitely need patrols out there, because when police out there they tend to disperse.”
Fudge also mentioned that on the weekends calls from Windsor residents are routed to the main Sonoma County Sherriff’s Office (SCSO) dispatch, and that often those dispatchers don’t seem to understand Windsor conditions or issues and are often unwilling to dispatch SCSO officers to Windsor for “traffic” issues.
“It needs to be a tailored response, and I would like you to speak with them,” Fudge said to Martinez. “It’s not like we’re out at the coast and the officers are in town … I think we really need to step up and have patrols and we will have to address it in the budget and think about adding an officer and having more visibility.”
Martinez responded that he would speak to central dispatch, but also said that while citizens have been good about sending in photos of suspect vehicles, what the police really need is videos of the vehicles doing misdeeds. A photo of the license plate is good but if it can be paired with a video of the bad behavior officers can take action after the fact.
Mayor Dominic Foppoli mentioned that at a recent League of Cities conference, one of the vendors was for surveillance cameras for high traffic areas, and he asked Martinez if such an item might be desired or helpful to the police department in regard to these issues.
“I’m very supportive of that and that is how Santa Rosa is going after some of these cars,” he said.
Foppoli posited that the cameras would be cheaper than adding another deputy to the payroll, to which Martinez responded, “Well, I wouldn’t mind having another officer that’s for sure.”
Public comment was largely from people who live or work in and around the Town Green, confirming that the area is often rife with these troublemaking vehicles and drivers. Specifically, many questioned why WPD hadn’t set up at the Green and at the Windsor Road/Windsor River Road intersection.
“This is not something that is hundreds of cars, it’s a handful it’s everyday from 4 p.m. to 9 pm on this corner every 10-15 minutes,” said Brian Weinberg. “I’ve never seen law enforcement at that corner at all, and they could pick them off left and right.”
Martinez concluded his presentation by saying he appreciated the community’s concerns and that he would continue to work on solutions. Residents with concerns were encouraged to call him.
