License and registration, please

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers PULL OVER, PLEASE-A Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy discusses a traffic infraction with a driver at the corner of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Kanan Road in Agoura Hills. Mary (an Agoura Hills resident who asked that her name be withheld) doesn't want to be labeled as an opponent of law enforcement-she insists that she's not. Nor does she want to be seen as just another disgruntled driver trying to vent her frustration after receiving a traffic ticket that she feels was unjust.

A mother of three and a business owner who's been living in the area since 1999, Mary said

erty Canyon hoshe just wants answers-and perhaps she's not the only one.

After receiving just three traffic tickets in the prior 23 years that she's been driving, Mary wonders why she's been pulled over five times in the last year and cited four of those times-all within the city limits of Agoura Hills. Is she a chronic lawbreaker, or is the local Sheriff's station just on a mission to write more tickets?

"I'm not a crazy person. I didn't just suddenly start driving out-of-control," said Mary, who's received two tickets for speeding (50 mph in a 35-mphzone), one for not making a complete stop at a stop sign and another for not coming to a complete stop at a red light when making a right turn.

"I admit, I'm not perfect. But I try my best to obey the law. I'm starting to feel like a target," she said.

M a r y spends most of her daytime hours on local roads, shuttling her children to and from school, running errands and frequenting community businesses. She said she never travels far without encountering a blackand-white patrol car. But her meetings with law enforcement no longer give her the feeling of comfort they once did.

"My experience over the past year has totally changed the way I look at (law enforcement) and that upsets me," she said. "I feel I'm being punished for living, working and breathing in this beautiful community."

Tickets, please

While not every driver in the area shares Mary's concern, many have noticed a difference in police presence and traffic enforcement over the past year- and there's a reason. In August 2005, the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station started a new program at the behest of Capt. Tom Martin in which deputies were encouraged to step up their efforts in the field and take a more proactive approach to fighting crime.

"The captain expected more shift activity from them," said Lt. Steven Smith, who was put in charge of implementing the program. "And more (shift activity) to us meant more arrests, more citations, more individual contact with citizens, more foot patrols. It included a whole bunch of things."

Although the number of citations given out in Agoura Hills, Calabasas and Westlake Village saw a steep jump after the program began-tickets almost doubled from 888 in July 2005 to 1,593 in September- Smith insists no specific order was given telling deputies to write more tickets.

"We didn't give numbers. We didn't say, 'you need to give this many citations an hour, or contact this many people.' All we said was you have to do more than what you did in the past," Smith said.

Nevertheless, the amount of tickets handed out by the Sheriff's Department went up across the board in 2005, reaching levels not seen since 1999.

Agoura Hills saw the greatest jump, as the number of citations climbed 106 percent from 2,706 in 2004 to 5,586 in 2005. Calabasas saw a 70 percent increase (3,761 to 6,411), while Westlake Village experienced a 61 percent increase (1,501 to 2,413).

The lieutenant said the writing of traffic citations still makes up very little of the average deputy's day. With a total of 25 deputies on duty in a 24-hour period in the three local contract cities-10 deputies in Agoura Hills, 10 in Calabasas and five in Westlake-and with each deputy working a 10-hour shift, a total of 1,627 tickets were handed out in January 2006. That means each deputy averaged about two citations per shift-although it's important to note that not all of those 25 deputies are assigned to traffic.

"That means most deputies are spending about an hour per shift giving out citations," Smith said. "This leaves them nine hours to do everything else."

B u t look at it another way, the critics argue. The city of Thousand Oaks has more than twice the combined population of Agoura Hills, Calabasas and Westlake Village, yet records show drivers in T.O. received about 300 fewer traffic tickets in January than its three neighbors to the east.

Proactive indeed, the critics say.

Support for law

enforcement

Oak Park resident Scott Cooper has seen firsthand the effects of driver negligence.

In 1988, Cooper, his wife and mother were on their way home from a dinner in West Los Angeles when the car they were in was struck by a driver who ran a red light while traveling 55 mph. Cooper's 61-year-old mother was killed in the accident.

"(The other driver) took her eyes off the road for a moment and look at the result," Cooper said. "So when I hear people complaining about traffic tickets, it makes me very upset, because there's such a compelling and strong reason for (the police) to do what they doThey're not just there to enforce criminal laws, but to ensure the safety of the citizens.

"I can't think of one logical reason why anyone would oppose a strong police presence," added Cooper, a resident of the area for 15 years.

Cooper, who admits receiving his own share of tickets, says the drivers should blame themselvesnot the Sheriff's deputies for the increase in citations.

"People are getting rushed, and that's making them careless," Cooper said. "People should stop and consider that saving an extra couple seconds on the way to work could kill someone . . . We shouldn't have a ticket situationbecause drivers should be overly cautious, especially when driving in their own neighborhoods."

Agoura Hills Mayor Denis Weber is another staunch supporter of the law enforcement effort in his community. He said the alleged "over enforcement" that some drivers complain about has not been brought up by his constituents.

"While I feel badly for the residents who feel like they've been targeted, the truth is, we all have to drive more safely," Weber said. "At some point, we have to be responsible for our actions."

Weber said the presence of so many children in the area is further justification for taking a hard line on traffic violations.

"There are an awful lot of kids in these neighborhoods and we've all seen the devastation of a family when a child is injured or killed because of a stupid blunder by an individual going too fast or making an illegal turn," the mayor said.

As frustrating as receiving a traffic citation may be, Weber said it's up to the drivers to adapt to the increased law enforcement.

"I hope everyone can adjust their driving habits," he said.