Drove 6 hrs through Ohio this weekend, down I-75 to Cincy, then back up I-71 to Cleveland.  Saw 2 Highway Patrol cars within 20 mins so I started counting.  Ended up seeing 15 patrol cars, or one car every 26 miles. 

 

I know Ohio has a reputation for being heavy on speed enforcement, but it seems really ridiculous to have so many highway patrolmen out on the highway.  It doubt it really helps public safety when you consider how few highway patrols you see in other states. 

 

For people who drive to Florida, it's common knowledge that you'll see more police in Ohio than you will the rest of the entire trip - why is this?  What is the relationship between ODOT and the Highway Patrol?  Is there a minimum staffing level?  Is there a legitimate justification for this? 

California has reassigned some of its HP to help the PD in Stockton.  Can Ohio do that?  I'm not aware of any instances where it's happened.  Most states simply have a state police force and don't limit it to traffic duty.  Seems wasteful, especially since Ohio has so many cities (and rural counties) with major budget problems. 

I can't recall ever seeing a Highway Patrol in the neighborhoods of Cleveland...  I know they do other things beside speed enforcement, but that really seems to be their primary focus.  If something else happens as a result, like an arrest warrant or drug seizure of course.  There must be a cost/benefit break point somewhere in this scenario

Ohio State Highway Patrol does not intervene in local affairs. From their mission statement --

 

Statewide police traffic services to keep our roadways safe;

Statewide emergency response services and support services to the public and the criminal justice community;

Investigation of criminal activities on state-owned and leased property throughout Ohio, and;

Security for the Governor and other dignitaries.

^really?  how do you figure?  That mission statement could be interpreted to include just about every nook & cranny of the state...

 

Regardless, when you drive throughout Ohio and really pay attention to their staffing level, it seems absurd.  Of course they are still catching criminals and preventing crimes, but at what point is the number of troopers overkill?

I'm not opposed to high levels of police staffing, I just think it's absurd to concentrate the staffing on traffic detail.  Ashtabula County says "everyone buy a gun, we can't protect you" while I-75 is crawling with cops who focus on minor infractions.  Makes no sense at all.

Memorial Day weekend is not an appropriate benchmark for discussing staffing levels; it's really an exception.  Not that I'd dispute that Ohio is just crawling with cops on the highways compared to other states on non-holidays.  I used to regularly cruise at 95-100MPH going between Miami and Orlando and only see 1 cruiser the whole way.

 

Edit: Also helps that in the summer it's so hot there that the cops never wanted to get out of their cars to issue tickets.

Memorial Day weekend is not an appropriate benchmark for discussing staffing levels; it's really an exception.  Not that I'd dispute that Ohio is just crawling with cops on the highways compared to other states on non-holidays.  I used to regularly cruise at 95-100MPH going between Miami and Orlando and only see 1 cruiser the whole way.

 

I was just about to say that too when I saw the message. On Saturday I saw an OHP cruiser running radar on I-90 west near Lorain Avenue in Cleveland. The only time you see OHP on patrol in urban areas is on a major holiday weekend where long-distance travel is extensive -- Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, etc.

 

I drove to Columbus and back on I-71 exactly one week earlier and saw one -- ONE -- OHP cruiser.

 

The reason why you saw so many troopers is because it was Memorial Day weekend. Nothing unusual. Much ado about nothing.

 

EDIT: BTW, OHP has no direct relationship with ODOT. OHP is part of a separate department -- the Ohio Department of Public Safety, not ODOT. Therefore this discussion will be moved from the ODOT thread.

regularly cruise at 95-100MPH

 

OK, I changed my mind.  We actually need more highway patrol! :)

Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken, but my understanding is that more people die every year than by criminal violence by a high multiplication factor.  Makes sense to me that there should be a decent focus on highway patrols to promote safety and decrease fatalities/injuries.

 

OK, I changed my mind.  We actually need more highway patrol! :)

 

I was 20~22yrs old driving company cars with a company credit card for gas and food and being paid by the job.  I'm strictly a 5-7MPH over kinda guy these days.

^really?  how do you figure?  That mission statement could be interpreted to include just about every nook & cranny of the state...

 

Regardless, when you drive throughout Ohio and really pay attention to their staffing level, it seems absurd.  Of course they are still catching criminals and preventing crimes, but at what point is the number of troopers overkill?

 

Here is how it is supposed to work in Ohio:

 

Ohio State Highway Patrol works the state maintained highways and interstates, and leaves traffic enforcement in local municipalities to county and local patrols.

 

The exception to this, is that county and local municipalities are not supposed to do traffic enforcement on limited-access highways, such as expressways and interstates, or roadways where there is a significant amount of through non-local traffic. The rationale behind this, is that you do not want small burgs with their own Mayor Courts raping every motorist that comes along for traveling 1 MPH over the speed limit. Like New Rome (before it was disbanded under Taft), and Steubenville (before it was forced to sign a decree with the DOJ), and Middlefield... et. al.

 

And even look at Hanging Rock along US 52 in southern Ohio - a town of several hundred with 6 full time police officers, police cars and police SUVs. They have only a handful of miles of roads, but have approximately 3 miles of four-lane US 52 with a 55 MPH SL. They have been running a speed trap for years - the AAA even slapped up billboards approaching the town at one point. And two officers were just canned - criminal charges coming now, because they were accepting cash for speeding infractions to out of town motorists.

Ohio really needs to clean this up.  I know there's an effort to but it needs to pick up steam.  US 422 between Cleveland and Warren is the worst.  It's a 4-lane divided federal highway set at 45, even though 2-lane county roads coming off it are at 55.  Geauga County Sheriffs are all over that stretch and it's not because they're going after locals.  That's the only direct route between the two metro areas and they know it.

Thanks for moving the thread, wasn't aware of this one...

 

Of course it was Memorial weekend but I don't think that changes much.  Did other states have their highway patrols ramped up to the ridiculous levels that Ohio has?  Of course not.  Any other day or weekend, Ohio's level of patrol must be several times greater than surrounding states.  I briefly scanned the web to try and come up with some numbers but was unsuccessful.

Out of all the states I have driven in (which is about 33), Ohio has to hands down be the worst, with GA or VA probably second. Cincinnati is the only city I think of right off hand, where the cops constantly nail people for speeding. I-71 up to about the Kenwood is always lined with cops. Just today, around lunch time, from the Taft exit up to Ridge, there were three motorcycle cops in the median anxiously waiting to catch speeders. On the few times I have taken I-75 up past West Chester, there seems to always be a cop in the media in the vicinity of IKEA.

 

I still possess a lot of my east coast driving habits, so in the three years I've been here, I received about 5 tickets for moving violations. Last year, I received a ticket going 72 in a 65 in Clinton County (come on man!). The highway was virtually empty, so I guess the cop was tired of waiting and decided to stop me. I could have killed the cop for that one; I was furious!

 

I know it was Memorial Day this past weekend, but driving to and from Cleveland, I saw numerous cops. I don't know how many there were, but it was certainly excessive.

The cops are everywhere in Ohio but at least they are marked (unlike VA). Though this weekend I saw a semi-marked car - it had a light bar but no insignias. It is worth noting that Ohio is one of the few states without a state police (I know there is a story behind that, but it isn't at my fingertips).

 

Statewide emergency response services and support services to the public and the criminal justice community;

 

 

The State highway Patrol relieved the Cincinnati police during the riots in 2001.

 

Statewide emergency response services and support services to the public and the criminal justice community;

 

The State highway Patrol relieved the Cincinnati police during the riots in 2001.

 

Correct, which is one of the few times they will get involved. Don't look for them to pop in on a routine murder investigation. Not all State Police forces are equal, though. Kentucky's is different.

 

As for perception, Ohio does have it fairly bad in terms of speed traps. Blame it on empowerment and Mayor's Courts, which allows cities, towns and dots on a map to run speed traps for the explicit purpose of revenue generation. In the case of New Rome, it included ticketing people for 1 MPH over (which can be fought in any other court for technicality - you aren't supposed to be ticketed for anything less than 5 MPH generally because of that), rigging a state traffic signal to turn red at random intervals with short yellow timings, and creating incidents where none be. In Steubenville, it was installing illegal red light cameras and speed cameras, and running a speed trap on OH 7 - a state highway. And then refusing to refund people's money when lawsuits started flying in, and the DOJ getting involved.

 

In West Virginia, AAA has taken out billboards in the past about the US 19 Summersville speed trap near Summersville lake. The SL drops from 65 MPH on the freeway to 50 MPH because of a handful of traffic signals - which are spaced far apart. It has been rated one of the worst speed traps in the US, sadly.

The cops are everywhere in Ohio but at least they are marked (unlike VA). Though this weekend I saw a semi-marked car - it had a light bar but no insignias. It is worth noting that Ohio is one of the few states without a state police (I know there is a story behind that, but it isn't at my fingertips).

 

Yeah, that is one good thing I must say about Ohio State Highway Patrol. I always see them in clearly marked vehicles on the freeways and interstates, and they are usually always in plain view, although most interstate in Ohio don't provide the cops the luxury of hiding and playing hide-and-seek. In some of the southeastern states, the interstates are heavily wooded on both sides, and even the medians in some areas, so they capitilize on that by hiding to nab speeders. I received a hefty ticket in SC once by a cop hiding in the trees, and another from a cop in a blue unmarked Mustang (they have some pretty cool unmarked cars).

 

So yeah, Ohio State Highway Patrol can be a pain, but other states can be just as much of a nuisance, but in different ways.

It is actually against the law for cops to hide in the way they do in some other states. They are supposed to be marked and in view (that enforced quite loosely, but they aren't supposed to sit up an entrance ramp which is popular in some places.