PAPD- Traffic Enforcement Unit





The traffic unit consists of the following personnel. If you have a question or comment please send them an email by clicking on their name below.
Lt. Steve Brinson, Supervisor

Officer Gerald Bush		Officer Rickey Antoine
Officer Chuck Cobb		Officer Tyree Thomas
Officer Matt Bulls		Officer Jerry Daws

Traffic Complaints? Let us know about them. Fill out our new online traffic enforcement request form. Click here to learn more.




The Port Arthur Arthur Police Department’s Traffic Enforcement Unit is part of the Field Operations Division. It is comprised of one lieutenant, and 4 traffic enforcement officers. The primary duty of the Traffic Enforcement Unit is the enforcement of traffic laws in order to reduce traffic collisions, their resulting injuries, and to facilitate the safe and expedient flow of vehicular and pedestrian traffic. These efforts result in safer roadways and streets, fewer fatalities, injuries, and reduces property damage. The Unit concentrates its enforcement efforts in various areas within the city of Port Arthur. These efforts have proven to be effective in reducing the numbers of collisions in the City.
		The City of Port Arthur has currently seen a drastic increase in the amount of traffic on our City's roadways. Several of our local chemical plants are undergoing expansions and the number of workers on those projects has increased. This has caused a drastic increase in the number of passenger vehicles, buses and commercial vehicles on our roadways. Our Traffic Enforcement Team has strategically increased patrols and traffic enforcement to help reduce the number of traffic incidents as a result. Speed, one of the leading causes of collisions, is enforced through the use of laser and radar devices. Each traffic enforcement officer is equipped with one of these devices. The Unit also utilizes display trailers in order to combat speeding. Mobile speed display radar trailers are rotated throughout the City to inform motorists of their speeds and serve as an educational tool.

Other targeted problems on which the Traffic Enforcement Unit works include school zones, seat belt enforcement, child safety seat enforcement, stop sign/light controlled intersections, pedestrian safety and traffic control device enforcement.

The Traffic Enforcement utilizes two Smart Radar Trailers which are placed in noted problem areas in an attempt to educate the motoring public. The Smart Radar Trailers keep a record of the number of vehicles, speed and time of high volume traffic.

The Port Arthur Police Department has six patrol vehicles equipped with " Car Detector mobile LPR's powered by Vigilant Video". The LPR, or License Plate Recognition system, automatically scans every license plate that comes within it's range, and checks the plate against a large database. If a license plate is in the database the computer alerts the operator.

Currently our database contains warrant information from Municipal Courts in Port Arthur and Beaumont, as well as any vehicle entered into the nation wide (NCIC ) computer database which includes stolen vehicles, Amber Alerts, etc.

The LPR system has three separate cameras, as well as the officer having the ability to check a plate that may be out of camera range, or angle. Once the plate is scanned or entered, the system searches the entire database in less than 1/10th of one second. ( that's fast )

When a vehicle is located in the database an alert is given to the operator. The alert includes a picture of the vehicle, a complete explanation of why the vehicle is entered, and the name of any wanted person(s). In the month of Oct 2010, 95 individuals were arrested due to LPR alerts. The total of the warrants was over $150,000.00.