Everett expands traffic enforcement, adds motorcycle officers and plans youth traffic court

Chief Robert Gets told the committee that traffic safety work focuses on the behaviors most associated with severe collisions — speed, red-light violations and impaired driving — and that the department has increased traffic staffing and data-driven deployments.

Gets said the traffic unit expanded from one to three motorcycle officers in December 2025, enabling a marked increase in emphasis patrols; the department is on pace to return to 189 emphasis patrols this year and projected roughly 2,400 additional traffic stops in 2025. He said collision data is trending downward and the department projects a reduction of about 400 collisions in 2026 tied to focused enforcement and visibility.

The chief described use of an anonymized, opt-in data feed provided through the Washington Traffic Safety Commission and insurance-program telematics (the sample is small—about 3% of commuters—but used to identify hotspots that field work confirms). Council members asked whether automated enforcement (cameras) would expand and whether funds from red-light and speed-camera revenues could be used to support enforcement; Gets said some overtime enforcement patrols were already funded through automated-enforcement revenue.

Gets also described a proposed youth traffic court that would emphasize education and behavior change: "successful completion allows the infraction to be dismissed and not reported to the Department of Licensing," he said, describing the program as an alternative to punitive reporting for first-time or low-level offenses.

Council members urged continued community outreach about emphasis patrols and suggested focusing on nuisance but safety-related violations (overly tinted windows, illegal mufflers) that can be linked to other unsafe driving and enforcement opportunities. The committee did not adopt new policy at the meeting; members requested follow-up data on hotspot selection and enforcement outcomes.