More drivers, but Kendall County traffic court case numbers show big drop

The number of traffic cases passing through the Kendall County Courthouse has fallen drastically over the past decade, a sign that local law enforcement agencies are enforcing the rules of the road far different than they used to.

It isn’t only a drop caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, either. For years, the number of traffic citations written on local roadways has steadily declined, 72% since 2010. To illustrate, the county courthouse recorded 16,894 traffic cases in 2010. In 2019, a whole year before the pandemic emptied the roads and police eased up on traffic stops, there were 5,969 traffic cases.

What accounts for this? Have police de-prioritized traffic enforcement? Did a wave of particularly safe drivers move into Kendall County?

Not quite.

Local law enforcement officials said that various factors have caused the downward trend, from state grants, staffing levels and evolving approaches to policing as the county’s population continues to grow.

In Oswego, the police department received traffic safety grants between 2010 and 2015, which required officers to prioritize writing tickets for specific infractions, such as seatbelt violations and DUIs. Tickets issued in the village have ticked downward since that initiative. In 2015, Oswego police officers issued 2,666 citations. By 2019, they wrote 1,199 citations.

“It is something we have noticed ourselves,” Oswego Police Chief Jeff Burgner said of the traffic data, adding that his department recently began participating in the traffic safety program again. “There’s definitely a reduction and some of that I think is attributed to the traffic grants, because that grant did require that we issue citations.”

Burgner cited other possible explanations for the drop-off in citations, including a shift toward community policing in recent years and stagnant staffing levels.

“We sat at 49 officers for 10 years, so that could have an effect,” he said.

Citations from the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office have decreased, too, said Sheriff Dwight Baird, who cited staffing as the top reason for changes in citation figures.

“Calls for service take priority,” Baird said. “Some years we’re up full staff, some years we weren’t, and that has an effect on the officer’s ability to do traffic.”

In Yorkville, Police Chief Jim Jensen said traffic enforcement has actually increased since his tenure began in 2018 (the only year in the past decade where traffic cases were up).

“Part of the reason is Yorkville has been understaffed prior to me getting here,” Jensen said. “They were running at least two years woefully understaffed.”

Both in Yorkville and Oswego, enforcement priorities have recently shifted to preventing property damage.

“The one way you can do that is increased traffic enforcement,” Jensen said. “We are consistently out on the roadways trying to send our message and a lot of it’s sitting out there.”

For Burgner, police work on local roadways comes down to safety, not the numbers.

“At the end of the day our enforcement efforts are really about making the roads safer,” Burgner said. “It’s not about penalizing people. It’s not a monetary endeavor. It’s really about traffic safety.”