WCCO: Edina Police Issued 13 Times as Many Speeding Tickets as Richfield in 2011

Edina police wrote more than 13 times as many speeding tickets as Richfield police in 2011, making Edina the per capita leader among cities in the Twin Cities metro area, according to a report on WCCO-TV.

That year, Richfield police wrote 642 tickets for excessive speed (Edina wrote  wrote 8,700). The top three Richfield spots for citations were:

• E. 78th Street and Chicago Avenue S. (81)
• E. 66th Street and Highway 77 (53)
• W. 76th Street and I-35W (45)

Rankings for nearby police departments: Bloomington (20), Mendota Heights (24), St. Louis Park (68), Eagan (71).

Richfield has about 135 miles of road to Edina's 230 miles. Edina is also bigger by population (48,620 to Richfield's 35,724).

According to the WCCO-TV report, speeding tickets aren't a money-maker for local police departments, even in No. 1-ranked Edina: 

Go over the posted speed and it’s up to each department to decide what to do. There are no state standards and police departments don’t set quotas. That’s illegal in Minnesota. When departments do issue tickets, those cities don’t make much money, only about $10 to $20. Most of the money goes to the state and county.

“It’s a loser money-wise. If I could get rid of it I would but I can’t,” Edina Police Chief Jeff Long said.

See the full WCCO-TV report at minnesota.cbslocal.com. There you can also download the full database. 

Map Legend
    Green pins: 0 to 500 tickets
    Yellow pins: 500 to 1,500 tickets
    Red pins: 1,500 or more tickets

Police departments that cover multiple cities have a pin in each of the cities they cover. Sheriff’s offices, state patrol, park police, University of Minnesota police and airport police are not shown.