Florida town infamous for speed traps disbanding police force

Last year, Waldo, Florida's seven police officers wrote nearly 12,000
tickets. CBS News


WALDO, Fla. -- The City Council of a tiny north Florida town known as
one of the nation's worst speed traps has voted to disband its small
police force.

The Waldo City Council on Tuesday voted 4-1 to eliminate the department
just weeks after the chief and interim chief resigned because of state
investigations into many issues, including an illegal ticket quota.

City Manage Kim Worley told the Gainesville Sun that a Florida
Department of Law Enforcement audit found many expensive computer and
facilities fixes were needed, a cost the small town cannot afford.

The move follows a revolt by five Waldo officers, who said that they
were forced to meet an illegal ticket quota and that evidence was being
stored improperly by the department's interim chief.

As CBS News reported last month, Waldo's seven police officers wrote
nearly 12,000 speeding tickets last year, collecting more than $400,000
in fines - a third of the town's revenue.

The town had six different speed limits in just a couple of miles.
Drivers enter the city at 65 miles per hour. It then drops to 55, 45 and
then 35.

Asked if the situation "rings well" with him, Gordon Smith, the sheriff
in neighboring Bradford County, said: "It doesn't because you're
creating this cash cow. Where there's cash register justice."

Smith was put in charge of the police department in Hampton, just nine
miles down State Highway 301, after the city's police department was
disbanded this year. Several town officials are suspected of stealing
some of the money raised by fines.

"That's legalized robbery," Smith said. "And we shouldn't be doing that."

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I'm amazed Waldo was able to get away with its brand of highway robbery
for so long. The town has been known for decades as nothing more than a
speed trap. Used to drive through it a few times a year on trips to
Gainesville and U of F and a couple of bass fishing lakes. There really
was nothing there except a few gas stations and crappy pseudo antique
shops. Got stopped once for going "too slow" down 301, but didn't get a
ticket. Everyone who knew about Waldo pretty much went "too slow" until
they were out of the town's jurisdiction. I remember a few of these
central Florida dip**** towns...they were pretty much all terrible
places. North of Waldo was Starke, where Florida used to electrocute its
death row prisoners, and south of Waldo and Gainesville was Orange Lake,
which was ok for bass fishing and eagle spotting, and then Ocala, a real
dump of a town.