WILLOUGHBY HILLS, Ohio — It's been 10 months since Willoughby Hills Police deployed its handheld photo enforcement unit on I-90 and I-271.
After years of research, ODOT found excessive speeding trends on I-90 and I-271; hence, the handheld speed camera unit Willoughby Hills has been enforcing for the past 10 months.
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However, some drivers told News 5 their mailed citations from Jenoptik, the company Willoughby Hills distributes the citations, aren't arriving on time, costing them hundreds of dollars in fines they said they had no clue about.
Tracy Kurinsky is beside herself.
"This is just crazy," said Kurinsky. "I just got these a week and a half ago."
Kurinsky said she received four Willoughby Hills speeding citations by mail in one week, all from handheld speed camera captures dating back months.
"These dates are crazy," Kurinsky said.
Kurinsky's first ticket is dated August 28, now with a late fee tacked on.
"Because it was an unpaid one, I supposedly got it before, and I never received it," Kurinsky said.
Her second ticket was dated September 26, the third October 8, and the fourth October 17. Kurinsky said she received all four tickets in the mail the week of October 28.
"They are so far apart," Kurinsky said. "Here's the thing, I would have gotten the one ticket; I wouldn't have gotten the rest of these, but you gave me all the tickets at once."
"What does that amount to financially for you?" asked News 5's Bryn Caswell. "Over $800."
Caswell brought Kurinsky's concerts directly to Willoughby Hills Police Chief Mat Naegele.
"I am not discounting the fact that you may have received the ticket late, but the fact of the matter is they do mail it out, and perhaps you didn't see it in the mail when the first notice came. There's no way for us to legitimize one way or the other," Naegele said.
In the handheld speed units' first 10 months of operation, Naegele says 36,000 citations have been mailed, 3,700 were repeat offenders. He said he's only encountered about a dozen people wanting to dispute their offenses, similar to Kurinsky.
"This is a matter of compliance; trying to get out speeds down here, not trying to stick it to people in any sense of that term," said Naegele.
The company Willoughby Hills police pays to legitimize and distribute speeding citations by mail is Jenoptik. News 5 contacted a company spokesperson about U.S. postal delays increasing speeding fines for drivers, but none of the questions were answered; instead, we were told to speak to the police department.
"We have run into situations where again from time to time things pop up and you do your best to give yourself the benefit of the doubt to the driver themselves," Naegele said. "If it turns into a larger problem it's something we will certainly have to take a look at."
That answer is not good enough for Kurinsky, who is now trying to find a third job to make ends meet.
"I am already trying to rebuild my credit," Kurinsky said. "It's already pushed it up, and if it all gets put on it, it will drop it because it's over $800."
Naegele said he's working with Kurinsky to figure out a solution, possibly waiving her hearing fees of $25 per citation. The city of Willoughby Hills has generated over $2 million in the past 10 months since the handheld speed cameras were implemented.
If you have been involved in a similar situation, email Bryn Caswell at bryn.caswell@wews.com
