Peninsula Daily News: LFP Police Chief Sutton speaks to Port Angeles City Council about traffic cameras

LFP traffic camera

Chief Steve Sutton of the Lake Forest Park Police recently traveled to Port Townsend to explain the use of traffic safety cameras to the Port Angeles City Council.

The Port Angeles City Council has reviewed one city’s use of traffic safety cameras as a force multiplier for police, a deterrent for red-light runners and school-zone speeders and as a source of revenue.

Lake Forest Park has used cameras for eight years and recently added more at the intersection of Bothell and Ballinger Way.

“We use this as a force multiplier,” said Sutton, a former State Patrol captain who once patrolled the North Olympic Peninsula.

“The photo enforcement systems have allowed us to take on other tasks rather than sitting at the red lights or looking at the school zones. We still do those, but not as much as we did.”

Sutton told them that LFP issues 15,000 traffic infractions per year but 85% of them are to commuters, not to residents.

See Peninsula Daily News article