Community members keep law enforcement on radar through social media

El Paso community members are alerting one another where law enforcement officers are posted on social media and in apps to avoid citations.

One of the most popular outlets is a closed Facebook group with more than 33,000 members.

“We’ve known that page has been out there for some time,” said El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles . “As a matter of fact, I get notification from my Facebook.”

Wiles said he browses the group himself to see what the community is saying about authorities.

The group description states its purpose is to post “road blocks” and “speed traps”, and sometimes users post photos for an even more accurate location of where officers are working.

In the City of El Paso, speeding tickets are calculated by the number of miles motorists drive over the speed limit. The fines also depend on whether the violation happened in a regular, school or construction zone. Taking those factors into consideration, a speeding ticket can cost between $124.10 to $523.60.

Wiles said this concept is not new, and that authorities themselves used to tell the public about the areas they planned to monitor.

“We would prefer not to give tickets,” said Wiles. “If people have these systems in place that help them to obey the law…and they slow down, and pay attention to what they’re doing that’s a good thing for all of us.”

You can request to join “Cop Alert – Road Blocks El Paso Texas” on Facebook.