CONWAY -- A prosecutor who previously found that Damascus had violated the state's speed-trap law ordered Wednesday that the town's police quit patrolling along all highways covered by his decision, including U.S. 65.
Hours later, the Damascus city attorney, Beau Wilcox, filed a petition in Faulkner County Circuit Court requesting a temporary injunction, or halt, to the prosecutor's sanction while the city seeks a long-term ruling on the matter.
The city contends that data supporting the prosecutor's decisions was inaccurate. It also hopes for a court judgment that the state's speed-trap law is unconstitutional, Wilcox said in a news release.
Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland's order Wednesday supported his Feb. 22 findings that the town of about 385 residents was in violation of Arkansas Code Annotated 12-8-402 through 404, despite arguments by Wilcox that the law has "multiple, severe Constitutional deficiencies."
[DOCUMENTS: Read the prosecutor's order, city's filings]
Hiland said a memorandum of understanding was reached for one year between the Arkansas State Police and the Faulkner County and Van Buren County sheriffs' offices to alternate responsibility for patrolling the Damascus area. Damascus is in both counties.
"The residents of the city should not be forced to endure a lack of public safety service as a result of the police department having improperly abused its police power," Hiland wrote in a report summarizing his findings and the sanctions.
Hiland's order extends through the completion of his current term as prosecutor for the 20th Judicial Circuit. That would be at the end of 2018.
A stretch of U.S. 65 runs through Damascus, which is about 20 miles north of Conway. U.S. 65 is a major route for travel between Conway and Branson, Clinton or Greers Ferry Lake.
After one year, the city may petition the prosecutor's office and request a review of any public-safety concerns that result from the decision, Hiland said.
Hiland noted that Jim Baker, county judge for Faulkner County, has asked the state for a stoplight to be placed at U.S. 65 and Arkansas 124. A stoplight there or at U.S. 65 and Arkansas 285 "would permanently ameliorate the public safety concern with excess numbers of vehicles exceeding the speed limit in an unsafe manner," the prosecutor wrote.
In adhering to his original speed-trap findings, Hiland wrote, "The City of Damascus Police Department is found to have abused its police power through the enforcement of criminal and traffic laws for the principal purpose of raising revenue for the municipality and not for the purpose of public safety and is subject to the sanctions provided by law."
A city is in violation of state law if its revenue from traffic fines and costs related to its local traffic citations exceeds 30 percent of the town's total expenses, less capital expenses and debt service, in the preceding year; or if more than 50 percent of local misdemeanor tickets issued on a state highway are for people driving 10 mph or less over the speed limit.
Hiland previously reported that the Arkansas State Police and the state Legislative Audit Division had examined Damascus data three ways and for two time periods, 2013-14 and 2014-15. All three methods found that traffic citations had exceeded the 30 percent threshold. The investigation also looked at the statistics with water department expenditures included and without those expenditures included, and the city still exceeded the 30 percent threshold.
The city's revenue from traffic fines and costs above the 30 percent level ranged from a low of $77,836 to a high of $298,449, depending on the year examined and the method of analysis, Hiland's earlier report said.
Wilcox has previously argued that "there is a fundamental lack of due process afforded the city by way of the statute, and there are vague, ambiguous, and arbitrary components of the statute that also make it worthy of judicial review."
Wilcox said Wednesday that Damascus "disagrees with and intends to vigorously contest the sanctions as put forth by the prosecuting attorney's office due to the implications they would have on the safety of the community and motorists generally."
Before Wilcox filed the court petition, Hiland said Wilcox's constitutional points were "well argued but must be deferred."
"It is the responsibility of this office to enforce the law as it is written," Hiland said. "The language of [the statute] does not -- nor should it -- endow the prosecuting attorney with the authority to make a determination on the constitutionality of Arkansas law. The principle of separation of powers is well-established in this state and the purview of the judicial branch of government over such matters will be respected and preserved by this office."
Any violation of the new sanction by any police officer will be a Class A misdemeanor for each citation or summons issued or misdemeanor arrest made in violation of the order, Hiland said.
"This Order does not apply to the City of Damascus responding to citizen calls for assistance in the enforcement of the state or local law," he wrote. "It only applies to the enforcement of traffic violations."
A Section on 05/11/2017