FORT VALLEY, Ga. — The Fort Valley Police Department is dismissing 146 speeding tickets given between Jan. 1 through mid-July due to expired radar certifications.
Fort Valley Police Chief DJ Flores said some of the speeding violations been changed to warnings. This comes after Flores discovered the department's permit to use its radar guns expired, about three weeks ago.
"At that point I tasked one of the personal to go ahead and renew that immediately," Flores said. "It has been taken care of and has been forwarded and in the hands of the Department of Transportation."
According to Georgia's Department of Public Safety, law enforcement's speed detection device permits must be renewed every three years; the permit expires Dec. 31 on the third year. They do not send expiration notices to those agencies with permits.
Flores said they're taking accountability by dismissing every ticket given during the expiration period.
"We've actually turned a lot of those speed tickets already into warnings; people who've come to pay their speeding tickets during that time frame, we've turned it into a warning," Flores said.
He said if someone has already paid their speeding citation prior to his discovery, they'll be reimbursed. To take a step further to address accountability, he said the department will have quarterly meetings.
"We have to go over these things quarterly to make sure that were in compliance and make sure we don't revisit this situation ever again," Flores said.
Flores said he instructed his officers to remove the radars from their cars until the permit is renewed. The department can't write new speeding tickets until then, but Flores said that does not mean drivers are off the hook for other charges. He used reckless driving as an example.
"They won't issue a speeding ticket," Flores said. "What they'll evaluate at that point is that violator that they pulled over that they made those elements of that reckless driving incident and then they will cite for the reckless driving and not speeding."
Flores said the city does not have electronic speed signs on Fort Valley roads, but hope to get some soon.
He told 13WMAZ that if anyone knows they received a speeding ticket from their department during the expiration period, they should reach out to the city municipal clerk to appeal. He said he hopes to have the renewal approved in the next month.