Council brought Cleveland police’s top brass into a committee meeting Wednesday to discuss the decline of traffic citations in the city, which cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer showed through court records has been cut in half since 2015. As council members pressed for solutions, like mailing tickets to those who flee cops, several noted that a 2014 ballot initiative, where voters approved a charter change to ban traffic cameras in the city, may have handcuffed Cleveland’s ability to use technology to solve the problem.
“I hear a lot from my residents that there’s real buyer’s remorse,” said Councilman Charles Slife. He suggested that even though state law limits Cleveland’s ability to collect revenue, placing these cameras back in areas like school zones could help keep the public safe by deterring brazen drivers.
Council isn’t alone in wanting automated traffic cameras to make a comeback. Mayor Justin Bibb includes restoring them in school zones and high-crash corridors in his “Vision Zero” safety plan. Council President Blaine Griffin raised the issue at a caucus meeting last fall. And safety groups like Bike Cleveland have backed the idea.
Any read of an online comment thread about traffic cameras — or Linndale’s speed trap — shows many drivers still hold the devices in contempt. In 2014, Cleveland residents voted 3-to-1 to ban them outright.
But Wednesday’s hearing — called specifically to grill the city’s safety director and deputy police chief on why ticket numbers keep falling — showed the idea is gaining fresh urgency.
Court records show speeding tickets issued by Cleveland police have dropped 68% over the past decade, falling from 8,893 citations in 2015 to 2,827 in 2025, according to records from Cleveland Municipal Court. Citations for running stop signs fell 70% over the same period, from 4,282 to 1,297, while red-light violations dropped 54%, from 2,171 to 1,005.
Councilman Richard Starr said Cleveland could bring back cameras and have more civilians follow up on mailed tickets. He said residents would need to be on board, but he added that relying on a limited number of police officers to curb the issue would be doing a “disservice” to concerned neighborhoods.
“Often times, it’s other cities setting precedents that say, ‘You’re not going to speed in our neighborhood. You’re not going to just park anywhere you want,’” Starr said.
Safety Director Wayne Drummond and Morris acknowledged the numbers are down but pushed back on the idea that enforcement has collapsed, saying officers often issue warnings. Drummond also said it’s a national trend, with traffic enforcement declining across major cities across the country since 2018.
Cleveland police continue to deal with vacancies and have fewer officers than they did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Police Chief Dorothy Todd also said previously that many drivers flee police, and that the department’s pursuit policy does not allow officers to chase for traffic violations.
Morris confirmed that same policy when asked Wednesday, but he told council that if officers capture a license plate with dashboard cameras and issue a summons, whoever owns the vehicle is responsible for the ticket.
Slife said police need to prioritize issuing those summonses and visiting the vehicle owners’ homes soon after the infractions to tow or boot the vehicle. He said he wants to work on legislative fixes that would make that easier for officers, which Drummond welcomed.
Still, council is asking if technology can play a role.
Councilwoman Nikki Hudson said she supports exploring cameras, particularly in school zones, and wants the city to examine technology more broadly — including cameras on school buses. She said she agrees with Cleveland police’s pursuit policy, but said technology can fill that gap if enforcement is waning.
Councilman Kevin Conwell said he originally championed red-light cameras in 2005, specifically because they don’t racially profile — unlike traffic stops, which he said have historically fallen disproportionately on Black drivers.
But he ultimately turned against the program when the city used it to balance the budget, rather than to improve safety. He said any revival would need to be focused on behavioral change, not revenue.
Conwell said any increase in traffic enforcement must be carried out carefully to avoid profiling or disparities.
Ohio state legislators largely turned against traffic cameras, too, and passed laws that curb their revenue earning potential.
Under Ohio law, cities and villages must report if they collect fines from drivers using automatic traffic cameras. The state then reduces the amount of money it sends to cities and villages, often taking $1 away for every $1 collected through fines.
There’s an exemption in school zones, however, and cities and villages can keep that ticket revenue.
Parma’s traffic camera program currently only operates in school zones — and still collected more than $1.5 million in fines from six cameras in one year’s time.
Parma Heights runs a similar traffic camera program and collected $841,000 from five cameras.
Cleveland’s charter outright bans any automatic traffic camera for speeding and red-light infractions, and voters would have to approve any changes.
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