The rise of "stop and frisk" has caused a decline in "license and registration," the typical request from a police officer who has just pulled over a motorist.
The number of traffic tickets written by the Philadelphia Police Department dipped 17 percent from 2008 to 2009 and then an additional 21 percent from 2009 to 2010.
And tickets are down 12 percent in the first five months of this year, compared with the first five months of 2010.
That means $1.6 million in lost revenue from 2009 to today, according to Traffic Court figures.
Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross says the department is analyzing the trend to determine precisely what's going on. But Ross and other city officials point to some likely causes:
- Crime-fighting – Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, in an effort to combat crime, has shifted more resources to the city's most troubled neighborhoods.
- "Stop and frisk" – The controversial tactic to stop, question and frisk people on the streets has kept cops busier.
- Youth violence – Police are being diverted to a show-of-strength effort to combat flare-ups of wild behavior by teens in Center City.
"We are compelled to do a lot of things that maybe we didn't have to do before," Ross said. "We've been very vigilant to stem the tide of violence, redirecting resources to patrol. Could that have an effect? Sure."
Ross and Everett Gillison, deputy mayor for public safety, said there was no quota for how many tickets police write.
"We do recognize that traffic safety is our responsibility, and we recognize its importance in saving lives," Ross said. "But when you start to prioritize, you make sacrifices."
Gillison acknowledged the decrease in revenue, which affects how Traffic Court is funded. That has led to speculation that Traffic Court may need fewer than its seven judges.
"It has put a crimp in the ability of that operation being run in a balanced way," Gillison said. "With the revenue going down, there's going to be a cause-and-effect in the future."
The city keeps about 30 percent of the money from motor-vehicle tickets, according to revenue figures prepared by Traffic Court. The drop in tickets has cost the city $1,647,922 from 2009 to today, those figures show.
Although tickets are on the wane overall, one offense is getting plenty of attention: talking, texting or emailing on a phone while driving. City Council made those actions a code violation, punishable by a $75 fine, in April 2009.
The Police Department says 25,417 of those tickets were issued from December 2009 to July 31.
Council made those tickets code violations to avoid conflicting with the state Motor Vehicle Code, which governs traffic violations.
Traffic Court President Judge Thomasine Tynes wishes those cellphone tickets would pass through her court.
The Pennsylvania State Police increased their patrols on the Philadelphia sections of the Schuylkill Expressway in 2007 and on Interstate 95 in 2008. The State Police's Troop K in Philadelphia wrote 26,874 tickets in 2010 and 16,109 through Aug. 1 this year.
Those tickets are also handled in Traffic Court, but the overall numbers continued to drop.
Tynes says the workload to process tickets has decreased "quite a bit."
But she also understands that the cops are coping with crimes far more serious than traffic violations.
"The police are doing all they can do," Tynes said. "It's overwhelming."