Fargo Police Chief: Dangerous Driving Problems Won’t Reduce Unless Legislature Improves Laws – InForum

FARGO — Speeding drivers, loud mufflers and engaging in street racing, speeding and other elements of dangerous driving have been a persistent problem in Fargo since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the community is concerned.

On Monday, June 3, Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski said he understands that dangerous driving bothers people, as reflected in the “vast” number of inquiries his department has made to the public recently about what do to repress bad behavior. He said officers are doing the best they can with available resources and asked for the community’s help to encourage state lawmakers to take action in the next legislative session to address the problem.

“I want people in the community to know that we are in no way ignoring this,” Zibolski said. “We just don’t have the headcount and some of the legal authorities that would give us a lot more leverage.”

Zibolski pointed to several ongoing efforts, including ongoing partnerships with the North Dakota Highway Patrol to use a state plane to track drivers when they flee traffic stops and a federal grant the department received to- and reinstate the Traffic Safety Unit, which was disbanded in 2016, later this year.

Still, he said, unless some changes are made in state laws, Fargo’s dangerous driving problems are likely to persist unabated.

“Speeding fines are so nominal, meaning virtually ineffective, that there’s no deterrent to any of them,” Zibolski said. “Nominal is probably the nicest word I can come up with. For those who will continue this kind of persistent and dangerous behavior, we need to have some kind of penalty that is equal to the task, and now we don’t. Even doubling the fine would be insignificant, because the fine is so small, you could probably multiply it by five, and it still wouldn’t be where it should be, if you look at neighboring states, their fines are much, Much bigger .”

Zibolski acknowledged that the Legislature has been reluctant to levy fines in the past, but said Fargo’s problems are on a different level than most of the state faces.

“We really need to have the ability to address the types of driving behavior that we’re seeing. I don’t think it would be out of the question to allow this larger population base more latitude with the potential for a larger fine,” he said. .

In one of 34 traffic stops in Fargo last year, the driver fled the scene, according to Fargo Police Department analysts. Zibolski said he plans to make another attempt at a piece of legislation called the homeowner’s liability bill, which passed the state Senate but failed to win approval in the state House last session.

“If a car flees from our officers, this bill gives the owner of that vehicle the option to provide information about who was driving or face a $500 non-criminal forfeiture fine,” he said. “It gives our officers a much needed tool and leverage to address this fugitive situation because at this point there is no incentive for anyone to give us information.”

A similar law is currently in place in Wisconsin and other states, Zibolski said.

He said when the public sees dangerous driving, there’s nothing wrong with making a call, but an officer has to witness the violation and there just aren’t enough officers on the streets right now.

“Our employment is really not where it should be. That’s one of the things we’ve been trying to address in the budget process with our city government — to get an adequate number of sworn positions in this department to meet the growing needs of We haven’t kept up and we need to do some catch-up there Zibolski said.

Zibolski said he is ultimately seeking the understanding and assistance of both the community and the state legislature as the department works to “reduce” dangerous driving in Fargo. He says he hopes to have more success in the 2025 legislative session.

“We need our local delegation to help the state delegation understand this better. There are a number of things that we will at least ask for, and I’m sure we won’t get everything we ask for, but they must be considered. it’s usually never a good solution, and North Dakota is not a unique state. We’re in the most populous region, that’s a huge metropolitan area, and with that, you have a greater amount of these types of problems. We must have the ability to address it adequately.