11 Insanely Corrupt Speed-Trap Towns
CASTLEBERRY, ALABAMA
THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS recently investigated the tiny town of Brookside, Alabama, a place “with no traffic lights and one retail store [that] collected $487 in fines and forfeitures for every man, woman and child.” Income from fines and forfeitures comprised a whopping 49 percent of the town’s budget. Lawsuits allege that Brookside police officers made up charges to soak vehicle owners for thousands of dollars in fines.
Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth is asking for an official state audit of the town and its police force. That doesn’t bode well for Brookside officials, in light of some recent history and similar stories across the country from decades past.
In 2017, the News reported that Castleberry, Alabama, with a population of about 500, was generating revenue through what amounted to highway robbery. More than a dozen lawsuits claimed that Castleberry officers illegally arrested and searched motorists, seizing their cash and cars without filing charges or even paperwork. In the ensuing scandal, Castleberry trimmed its police force down to just two part-time police officers.
Speed-trap towns—that is, small towns that raise revenue through unreasonably aggressive and sometimes illegal traffic enforcement—are a scam nearly as old as the automobile itself.
“The ‘speed trap’ industry as practised by rural constables shows little abatement in this country and some concerted movement must be made by automobilists as a class if they would secure immunity from annoyance and extortion as individuals,” the New York Sun opined in 1907. As early as 1908, the Automobile Club of America published lists of towns known for speed traps and rigid traffic enforcement.
Over the decades, speed-trap towns have popped up, gained notoriety, and in some cases stopped existing as a consequence of their thieving. Reviewing newspaper archives, Reason found 10 U.S. towns with especially corrupt traffic enforcement. Most ended up disbanding their police departments, and some disincorporated entirely.
WILMER, ALABAMA
BEFORE BROOKSIDE AND Castleberry, there was Wilmer, Alabama, a small town of about 500 situated near Mobile. In the early 1990s,
