Data shows how Georgia municipalities aggressively use law enforcement to generate revenue

Warwick
Warwick, Georgia, provides a stark example of local government reliance on revenue generated by law enforcement. The small town covers less than a square mile along Highway 300 in southwest Georgia. Nearly a quarter of Warwick’s 500 residents fall below the federal poverty line, and the annual median household income is about $45,000. Warwick is known for hosting the yearly National Grits Festival and was proclaimed the “Grits Capital of the World” in 2003 by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue.

According to data from the Georgia Department of Transportation, more than 10,000 vehicles pass through Warwick along Highway 300 daily. Like many small towns along Georgia highways, Warwick’s government relies heavily on revenue from traffic citations. As Warwick City Councilman Ronnie Fennell told The Atlanta-Journal Constitution in 2014, “We had the opportunity to generate revenue on Highway 300...And that’s what we did.” That year, Warwick collected nearly $1.5 million in fines and forfeitures.

The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported that Warwick’s traffic citation revenue helped pay for a new police headquarters, two Chevrolet Tahoe police cruisers, and two $25,000 license plate readers. The city also renovated its community center, which doubles as a municipal court. “I knew what revenue was being generated,” Councilman Fennell told the newspaper. “And let me tell you something. I liked it.”

Despite a change in leadership at the Warwick police department, the city has relied on law enforcement revenues for between 65% and 86% of the town’s budget in recent years. Between 2017 and 2022, Warwick collected an average of $614,400 from fines and forfeitures each year. That’s more than $1,000 annually for every man, woman, and child in the town. Over the same six-year period, Warwick collected an average of about $132,500 in annual taxes-—less than $250 per resident.

Oliver
The small town of Oliver, Georgia, also has a reputation for aggressive traffic enforcement. Oliver has a population of around 300 residents, about a third of whom live below the federal poverty line. With an annual median household income of $49,000 and very few businesses, Oliver’s tax base is limited. Between 2016 and 2020, the town collected an average of just $62,200 in tax revenue annually. Over the same period, Oliver collected an average of $170,000 per year from fines and forfeitures—nearly $500 per resident. In a typical year, fines and forfeitures account for 52% to 72% of Oliver’s budget.

Oliver General Revenue (2016-2020)

In 2020, an investigation by the Georgia Department of Public Safety (DPS) found that the Oliver Police Department collected more than $41,000 from unlawful traffic citations over a two-year period. Oliver police were caught using speed detection devices despite lacking the authority to do so. In total, the Oliver Police Department issued 132 citations that, according to DPS, “never should have been issued.”

Snellville
While small highway towns like Warwick and Oliver tend to be the most reliant on fines and forfeiture revenue, bigger cities also bring in large amounts of money from law enforcement activities. Notably, several larger municipalities in Georgia have recently started to deploy automated speed detection cameras in school zones following authorization by a 2018 law. The Georgia Department of Transportation has since permitted more than 100 school zone cameras in north Georgia cities, including 27 in Gwinnett County, northeast of Atlanta. In most cases, cities partner with companies that install and operate the cameras in exchange for 35% of the citation revenue generated.

The stated goal of the cameras is to improve pedestrian safety near schools, but the cameras also boost government revenue. The city of Snellville, for example, has generated a significant increase in fines and forfeitures revenue since deploying school zone cameras in 2021. Snellville is a city of about 20,000 residents on the outskirts of Atlanta. In just the first few months of using the cameras, Snellville raked in $848,000 from citations issued to about 39,500 drivers through the new school zone cameras. Most of the citations were issued on Highway 78, which is traveled by about 40,000 vehicles every day and has a speed limit of 35 miles per hour through most of the city.

Between 2016 and 2020, Snellville collected an average of about $2,086,000 yearly in fines and forfeitures revenue—about 13% of the city’s budget in a typical year. In 2022, its fines and forfeitures revenue more than doubled to over $4,521,000, or about 19% of the city’s budget that year. That’s about $220 per resident in just one year. The apparent revenue generation of the cameras raises questions about whether their use is purely in the interest of public safety. As one Snellville resident told the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “I feel like it’s just a money grab for them.”

Snellville General Revenue (2016-2022)

Recent evidence from other states raises serious concerns about using automated traffic enforcement tools. For example, a 2014 investigation by the Chicago Tribune discovered that Chicago’s automated red-light cameras were prone to technological glitches, resulting in thousands of erroneous citations.

Moreover, automated traffic enforcement is often unable to determine who is driving a vehicle at the time of an infraction, raising due process questions for vehicle owners accused of traffic violations. Considering these troubling failures and concerns, at least 18 states and 36 cities have banned automated red-light cameras and other speed enforcement devices.