Speed Trap Issue Home Page
We dedicate these pages to the purpose of eliminating
abuse of police power within the State of Oklahoma. 

The Oklahoma House of Representatives and the Oklahoma Senate failed again to outlaw speed traps.  If you have not yet sent your elected representatives your opinion on this issue, please include this URL for their reference.  Every time anyone running for office asks for your vote, ask them how they will vote on this issue and if they have read this page.

Please send this URL to your Oklahoma Legislator today!
The robbery of travelers by municipalities is not law enforcement.  It betrays the honor of honest peace officers.  It teaches our children to disrespect the courts. 

Several respected state media outlets have produced strong stories on speed traps, but to solve the problem we must change the law.  You can help.  Please send this URL to everyone you know.  Send it to media outlets, but most importantly send it to your Oklahoma Legislator.  Now is the time to outlaw speedtraps.  All that is required for you to send this URL.  Help us end "Boss Hog" style corruption in Oklahoma.

The tale of corruption exposed 
Tulsa Today writer Dan Wofford first broke the speedtrap issue in the following story.  As the issue develops new stories are added. 

Watts amok by Dan Wofford (updated September 14, 1998)
As highwaymen of the Middle Ages robbed unwary travelers, the Watts Oklahoma Police Department fleeces money from unsuspecting modern travelers.  This village with sales tax collections of only $1,214 (April 1998) gathered $13,023.96 per month in speed trap revenue for the 10 month period reviewed by Tulsa Today. [MORE]

State Law (This page quotes state laws)
Arkansas, Missouri and Texas law clearly identify a speed trap as an abuse of police power.  They target the percentage of revenue (from 30 to 45 percent) as the way to identify such abuse.  Watts Police Commissioner Gary Fain has said his city earns 97.5 percent of their revenue from police activity.  [MORE]

Public Comments on Speed Traps
These are some of the funniest, saddest, shameless and strangest reader comments on any issue Tulsa Today has ever gathered.  One son of a former Watts Police Chief threatens to go to war with the current force.  Several residents requested their name be withheld, but their letters leave no doubt that they believe the current police administration is evil.  From around the nation, Oklahomans are outraged.  We did get one letter is support of the Watts Police Department, but it was unsigned.  The most common opinion is that the speed trap problem must be solved. [MORE]

Interview with Commissioner Bob Ricks
KJRH Anchor Chad Nye and Tulsa Today Publisher David Arnett conducted an interview with Commissioner Ricks.  The KJRH feature ran September 9 and this file contains additional detail from that interview.  Also in a KJRH/Tulsa Today interviews, Watts Commissioner of Police Gary Fain admitted on camera that 97.5 percent of all municipal revenue is generated by the police department.  Ricks said that if that number is true, then certainly Watts Oklahoma is running a speed trap.

With a formal complaint, Ricks says he will investigate speed traps in Oklahoma.  However, the Oklahoma Legislature has not given the department the best tools to work with to fix the problem. 

Commissioner Ricks credits Tulsa Today for bringing Watts, Oklahoma to his attention and providing legal guidelines he will ask the Legislature to enact next session. [MORE]

The strange story of Mr. Roy Banks
"I have just heard about this story last night and I'm shocked that Roy Banks would sink so low.  I would prefer that my name is withheld because I'm a police officer who has to work with Roy Banks on occasion and my department wouldn't agree with me sending this message.

If David Arnett was not informed, I think he would like to know that Roy Banks is an Oklahoma Highway Patrol dispatcher.  He is stationed out of Troop C  (Muskogee) and used to be friends with Trooper Freeman prior to this incident."  [MORE]

Muskogee Daily Phoenix investigates Watts Police
Highlighted within investigative reporter Donna Hales' piece was a report from the Council of Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET) that shows the last time Watts submitted the required payment to the agency was in December of 1996.  Municipalities are required by Oklahoma Law to send CLEET $7 of each fine of $10 or more.  CLEET trains and certifies Oklahoma police officers.

Jim Tillison, a CLEET instructor in line to become the organization's general counsel November 1, said a letter is being prepared demanding Watts submit past due reports and payments.  Tillison told the Phoenix, "We can't allow it to go by."

Watts Police Commissioner Gary Fain said, "I didn't even know you had to pay CLEET."  [MORE]

Defending speed traps
One reader defends the operation of speedtraps  and while we passionately disagree, our primary directive is to promote diversity of opinion.  Click here to read the letter.