Minnetonka Ranks 12th in Speeding Tickets Per Capita

Legend

• Green pins: 0 to 500 tickets
• Yellow pins: 500 to 1,500 tickets
• Red pins: 1,500 or more tickets

Police departments that cover multiple cities have a pin in each of the cities they cover. Sheriff’s offices, state patrol, park police, University of Minnesota police and airport police are not shown.

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In 2011, Minnetonka police wrote the 12th-highest number of speeding tickets per capita among agencies in the Twin Cities metro area, according to a report on WCCO-TV.

The city’s 56 officers wrote 3,550 tickets for excessive speed—a rate of .07 tickets for every person in Minnetonka. The top three locations in the city of 50,435 residents were:

• Highway 7 and Baker Road (284 tickets)
• Highway 394 and Plymouth Road (263 tickets)
• Highway 394 and Ridgedale Drive (246 tickets)

Nearby police departments ranked lower. Eden Prairie police wrote the 15th-highest number of speeding tickets per capita. Deephaven was 30th. South Lake Minnetonka was 43rd. St. Louis Park was 67th.

According to the WCCO-TV report, speeding tickets aren't a money-maker for local police departments, even in No. 1-ranked Edina: 

Go over the posted speed and it’s up to each department to decide what to do. There are no state standards and police departments don’t set quotas. That’s illegal in Minnesota. When departments do issue tickets, those cities don’t make much money, only about $10 to $20. Most of the money goes to the state and county.

“It’s a loser money-wise. If I could get rid of it I would but I can’t,” Edina Police Chief Jeff Long said.

See the full WCCO-TV report at minnesota.cbslocal.com. There you can also download the full database.