24-5

 PLANT CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT General Order Title TRAFFIC OPERATIONS General Order Number 24-5 Effective: 01/01/1996 Revised: 04/06/2020 Reviewed : CFA: PURPOSE The purpose of this directive is to estab lish procedures govern ing the rela tionship between the Department and the City of Plant City Traffic Opera tions Depart ment. Traffic Operations main tains a properly trained staff that conducts studies to identify changing traffic pat terns and participates in local and regional transpor tation man agement system planning. DISCUSSION Traffic Operations is a complex field requiring specific train ing and exper tise. The Traffic Opera tions Depart ment maintains the equip ment and the staff to deal with traffic related prob lems inherent i n large growing areas such as the City of Plant City. INTENT It is the intent of the Plant City Police Department to refer all formal com plaints that do not involve enforcement issues, or sugges tions concerning traffic deficiencies directly to the Traff ic Operations Department for review. DEFINITIONS RULES AND PROCEDURES A. It is the duty of the Commander of the Uniform Patrol Division or his/her designee to ensure that close coordination and coopera tion by this Department and traffic opera tion authori ties is completed because it is essential to the mainte nance and improvement of a safe and efficient traffic system in the City of Plant City. B. Traffic operations are not solely or even directly a law enforcement func tion. Law enforce ment has a unique opportunity and re sponsi bility to con tribute to traffic operations. The compilation and analysis of traffic law enforce ment and traffic crash manage ment data, as well as infor mation obtained in providing basic traffic ser vices to the public, provides an excel lent base for identify ing traffic opera tion prob lems. C. Elimination of traffic operation prob lems is also very much in the best interest of law enforce ment, and the City of P lant City at large, for with im provements in traffic opera tions comes reduction in traffic crashes, and often reduc tion in traffic law violations. 24-5.1 TRAFFIC OPERATIONS LIASON G E N E R A L O R D E R 24-5 T R A F F I C O P E R A T I O N S P a g e | 2 D. The Department fully rec ognizes its unique opportunity and responsi bility to contrib ute to improving traffic oper ations in Plant City. To this end, the Department will con tinue to work in concert with other authorities to de vote adequate members and other re sources to: 1. Conduct special traffic surveys and studies, as appro priate, to inves tigate poten tial problems further; 2. Upon request, analyze crash and enforce ment data to discern trends and rela tionships symptomatic of engi neering problems; 3. Upon request, p repare special reports, and make recom mendations con cerning ef ficient use of traf fic control de vices, new or revised laws or ordi nances, or other engineering solutions / improve ments. 4. Participate actively in Plant City's transporta tion system man agement planning. E. The Department will employ the U.S. Department of Transportation’s FHWA Resource Center Safety and Design Team https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/resourcecenter/teams/safety/ as a guide for its activities relat ing to traffic o perations. A. The Department will record, investi gate, and follow -up on all citizens’ noti fications of actual or potential traffic operation problems and possible improvements. 1. The Commander of the Uniform Patrol Division or his/her designee may assign a uniformed patrol officer to investigate such complaints. Members responding to such calls will: a. Verify the caller's information con cerning the actual or potential condi tion being reported; b. Evaluate the caller's suggestions for possible improvement; c. To the extent possible, with respect to utility and feasibility, i nitiate ap propriate remedial action; d. If necessary, refer the complain ant's infor mation to the appro priate authori ty; and e. Notify the Commander of the Uniform Patrol Division or his/her designee of their findings and complete a writte n report on their findings. B. Upon request, t he Department, in conjunction with Traffic Operations, will collect and analyze relevant engineer ing data related to traffic crash locations. Crash -collision dia grams and condition diagrams will be prepared and main tained to provide a base for traffi c operation decisions or recommenda tions. When evidence of defi ciencies is found, the Depart ment will undertake or rec ommend to other relevant authorities, sight distance and other appro priate engineering studies of the affected locations. C. Upon request , the Department, in conjunction with Traffic Operations, will collect and analyze relevant engi neering data related to traffic enforcement patterns. These studies will specifically examine the poten tial contri bution of engineering deficien cies at locations exhib iting high incidence of particular types of violations. The studies also will examine the po tential pay -off in traffic law compli ance that might accrue from specific engi neering modifications at the affected locations . 24-5.