Citizens and law enforcement are working together to tackle speeding in the Issaquah Highlands, especially in the wake of a meeting held last month in Blakely Hall to discuss the issue. However, some residents are concerned that police are not doing enough to combat the speeding issue.

“The police do a really great job with the resources they have,” said Doug Anter, who organized the town hall meeting. “But I was hoping for a more proactive approach on the police’s part.”

Anter, a resident of Northeast Park Drive, previously told the Reporter that he won’t let his children play outside in the neighborhood for fear that they will be hit by a speeding vehicle.

The residents have been particularly alarmed after a small child was killed by a car last year in Issaquah.

“We can do better, and we’ve gotten to the point where we must do better … We can be reasonably alarmed now,” Paul Omekanda said. “I think we’ve reached that point now.”

Mary Lynch told the Issaquah School District Board of Directors at the Nov. 9 meeting that there is a serious concern with drivers speeding through the school zone in front of Grand Ridge Elementary School on Northeast Park Drive.

“There are yellow lights up there, but there are no traffic cameras and no policemen … and there is going to be a major accident,” Lynch said. “I’ve been through two incidents in the last five years of children being killed and I don’t want to have to do it again.”

Issaquah Police Commander Ryan Raulerson, one of the speakers at the meeting in the Highlands, said that he wouldn’t necessarily state that Issaquah has a speeding issue.

“We receive complaints on all kinds of traffic issues,” he said. “Traffic is one of the things people complain about most. We get traffic complaints about lots of different problems.”

At the meeting, the police asked the public to be on guard against dangerous drivers.

“We ask that they help police the area, that they mention their concerns on social media,” Raulerson said. “For recklessly driven vehicles, we want them to call us. If they have traffic concerns, they should report them to the city.”

“You have to implement multiple attempts to change bad behavior,” said Alex Smith, vice president of operations at the National Traffic Safety Institute in Issaquah. He mentioned “legislation, enforcement and education” as the three big areas of focus for bringing about a change in the number of speed violations.

Omekanda believes that what the city needs is a statement from the mayor and police chief that the city will be taking a firm crackdown on speeding in the Highlands.

“It’s nice to start the conversation, but I do believe we have to ask for something now. Having reflected, I think … they can address this now,” Omekanda said. “We’re looking for those people we elected to step into our shoes.”

“I believe the police are our employees,” Anter said. “We citizens tell the police to do the job how we want it done.”

Raulerson said that one limitation is that the department has “limited resources and we have to put those resources to emergencies.”

He did note, however, that “we look at each concern and let the patrol officers know of the different areas. We ask that they perform some traffic enforcement. We do have a traffic officer.”

Anter said that he has rarely seen the traffic enforcement officer on duty in the Highlands.

While Omekanda would like to see more action taken against speeding, such as more tickets being given out, he said that a very good outcome of the Highlands meeting is that it made him feel “empowered” to be a citizen advocate for safe driving every day on the streets.

Just last week, he confronted a driver who had been speeding down Northeast Park Drive in front of him, and who had then proceeded to dangerously “brake-check” Omekanda out of spite.

“It’s malicious — the intent to cause great bodily harm,” Omekanda said. “There is a plethora of things that could have happened. Until there’s a message sent, people will take it upon themselves to rule the road.”