Neighborhood Speed Watch Program

The Olympia Neighborhood Speed Watch Program is a volunteer public awareness program that promotes traffic safety. Trained neighborhood and community volunteers use a digital display to make drivers aware of their speeds. Speed watch volunteers record speeds and notify registered owners if their vehicle was observed being driven in excess of the speed limit. Through this program, concerned citizens have an active role in helping to solve speeding problems in their neighborhood through awareness and information.

How the program works:

• Request Speed Watch:  City of Olympia residents only - Call the Olympia Police Department to volunteer and initiate a Neighborhood Speed Watch Program in your neighborhood. See contact information at the bottom of this page.
• Citizen training: Individuals and groups who wish to proceed with the program are briefed on the requirements expected of them, such as proper data collection, use of equipment, and the proper behavior of the participants while conducting the data collection.
• Schedule a time to use the radar equipment: Working together, neighborhood residents schedule a time to collect data. This usually happens during various days and times when residents feel speeding is the worst.
• Forward information to Washington State Department of Motor Vehicles: City staff send license numbers of speeding vehicles to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in Olympia for a list of registered owners and vehicle descriptions. The official description of the vehicle (received from DMV) will be cross-checked with the description of the vehicle given by the citizens.
• Letters mailed to violators: A letter from the Olympia Police Department is then sent to the registered owners of all matched vehicles. The letter advises them of the observed violation and encourages them to drive at or below the speed limit when traveling on neighborhood streets.

This is a Public Awareness Program and notices to registered owners do not constitute notice of violation, go on driving records or impose a fine.

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For more information contact:

City of Olympia Police Department - Community Programs
Phone: 360.753.8049
Fax: 360.753.8143 
Email: oympiapolice@ci.olympia.wa.us