The system of appeal for traffic tickets at Oklahoma City University is getting a new facelift thanks to new Chief of Police Tony Spurlock and the Student Government Association’s president Anthony Carranza and Chief Justice Sonny Tabor.
With the former system, students who were issued a traffic ticket had to go to the police department, get an appeal letter, fill out the appeal, return it to the police department in ten days, wait for a determination, then if the ticket was upheld by the police, wait for the ticket to go to Student Affairs where they could make a second appeal.
Under the new system, students who wish to make an appeal for a traffic ticket will have to go to the police department and get an appeal letter, but will then send it to Student Affairs, where the student government will look at the appeal and decide what to do with the ticket.
The new system will remove the police from the appeal process, with their only responsibility being to write and report traffic tickets to Student Affairs.
Chief Spurlock explained, “I didn’t think it was a good idea for the police to be judge, jury and executioner and I didn’t think it was a good fit when we’re the ones writing the tickets.”
Chief Spurlock also explained that the student government will now be completely in charge of student appeals and whether fines are lowered, kept the same or excused.
Chief Spurlock said, “It seemed like a conflict of interest, I write you a ticket and then you appeal to me, it just didn’t seem fair to me.”
“This way you have a fair person or persons who are looking at your appeal on the student government, an independent person, which is like what our court system is supposed to be anyways,” Spurlock said.
Chief Spurlock also said, “What you’ll find when you judge your own is that they tend to be way stricter than other people.”
Spurlock explained that the police department and student government’s goal is to get through the end of the semester and the holiday season and then try to implement the new system next semester.
Doing a better job of writing traffic tickets was another thing that Chief Spurlock spoke about as well, explaining that the police department will focus on being more specific and taking photo evidence to make it easier for the student government to review them.
Along with the new traffic ticket appeal system, Chief Spurlock spoke about the idea of getting the police department together with Student Affairs and the Student Government Association to review the prices of fines that go with violations.
I found this very enlightening.