The holiday season is here and Vermont's Northeast Kingdom is decked out in red and green. This year, however, people in Lyndonville are seeing red for a different reason: a surge in tickets.
In little more than a week, the police department has issued more than 30 tickets. For the small village it's a big change. Dan Hill, the Municipal Administrator, says the increase was prompted by a sharp drop in fines. In 2010, Lyndonville collected $6800 from tickets. So far this year, it's collected $300.
"In reviewing that with the trustees it led to a whole discussion about how aggressive is our police department," said Hill.
He says the board told officers to write more tickets. The result? More money and a huge backlash. However, the backlash isn't just coming from people in the community. Police Chief Jack Harris told us it is not the job of his officers to make money for Lyndonville.
"I don't think producing revenue is what law enforcement is about," said Harris.
While the board may see the drop in revenue as a bad thing, Harris sees it a different way.
"It's because we're dealing with people once and only once," he said. In many cases, he says all it takes is a warning.
The village is already taking a step back, saying it may have taken it to the extreme. "There are probably cases where we have issued tickets that were overly aggressive, "said Hill.
Hill says the issue will be discussed more at Monday's trustees meeting.
Comment Agreement
