Edgewood police report increased traffic enforcement; highlight school-zone cameras and planned patrols

Police Chief Youngman told the Edgewood City Council on Tuesday that the department has increased proactive traffic enforcement and plans additional emphasis patrols and education focused on speeding, distracted driving and DUI enforcement.

Chief Youngman said the department—s dedicated traffic efforts produced a 76% increase in traffic enforcement over the prior year, and early 2025 activity puts the department roughly 33% above 2024 at the same point in the year. He said the department recorded about 1,584 proactive stops last year and is on a pace to exceed that number in 2025, but noted staffing cuts will reduce overnight coverage and could affect late-night DUI enforcement.

"We continued with our dedicated traffic deputy," Chief Youngman said, "we did multiple emphasis on a variety of streets that include some overtime emphasis hours towards streets that we knew we were having problems."

The chief reviewed the city—s school-zone camera program, which began in 2019 and reached full deployment by 2021 when the Northwood cameras came online. He reported a recent 30-day span with 553 camera citations; the average speed among those citations was 27.67 mph and most violations (about 77%) were 4–10 mph over the limit. The department—s data show about 75% of camera violators are registered outside Edgewood, and that roughly 82.5% of drivers do not reoffend after a first citation.

Chief Youngman said the camera program is intended to calm traffic where sensitive populations travel and to act as a force multiplier where the department cannot post officers at every school. He also described collision trends: most collisions and the city—s serious injury incidents cluster along Meridian, and the city has recorded eight vehicle-versus-pedestrian incidents (one involving a bicycle) in the data set he reviewed that reaches back to 2016.

Planned actions for 2025 include multiple high-visibility emphasis patrols starting in March, a distracted-driving campaign in April to coincide with national awareness efforts, and joint security emphasis operations with nearby Milton in May. The chief said the department will continue the community academy in April and that staff would pursue engineering improvements such as radar feedback signs and evaluating crosswalk beacons (an indicative cost mentioned for a single crosswalk beacon setup was about $20,000).

Council members and residents asked about night staffing for DUI enforcement, the differential between camera and officer-issued fines, and the effectiveness of beacons and other engineering measures. Chief Youngman said officers are trained in advanced roadside impairment detection (ARIDE), the department can perform blood draws on-site, and the city will coordinate enforcement and education with neighboring agencies.

Ending: The council took no formal action; Chief Youngman closed by inviting council and residents to review camera and enforcement data with department staff.