Mar. 15, 2026 9:30a
(WGTD)---The Racine City Council is scheduled to take up a thorny issue Tuesday night with many sides.
Alarmed by the number of incidents of reckless driving and speeding, the Douglas Avenue Business Improvement District is offering to give the police department just over $32,000 to cover 340 hours of overtime for officers to be assigned specifically for traffic enforcement on Douglas Avenue.
The police department is balking at accepting the money, arguing that it would set a bad precedent by creating an ‘on-demand’ model for law enforcement based on ability to pay.
Despite the police department’s misgivings, the council’s Finance and Personnel voted 3-1 last week to accept the money and launch the overtime patrols. There was one abstention.
Alder Jen Jorgensen supported the move. "The speeding is out of control," he said.
But Alder Grace Allen said privately-financed police patrols wouldn’t sit well with the city as a whole. "We're setting a precedent here that I don't think we want to do," she said. Allen, as did Mayor Cory Mason, suggested that the police department and the city's public works department be directed to come up with a plan to address the problem.
The full council is to take up the issue Tuesday night.
One footnote…a shortage of patrol officers has inhibited the department’s ability to assign officers specirically for traffic enforcement. But that’s expected to change soon as 15 recently-hired officers come out of training.
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