The city of Apache Junction is joining the Pinal County Multi-Agency Traffic Task Force that includes personnel from Florence, Coolidge, Eloy, Maricopa, Queen Creek and the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.
The Apache Junction City Council voted unanimously Dec. 2 to approve a resolution for an intergovernmental agreement with the task force.
“I’m all for this. I think these traffic accidents are just ridiculous, and I think probably having skilled detectives looking at this is a great thing,” Councilmember Peter Heck said prior to the vote.
“As you know I am a big advocate of task forces. It is a massive force-multiplier,” Councilmember Bryan Soller said prior to the vote. “We pay for our people, they pay for their people. We send people to other cities to help them when they have accidents, they send people to help us. You get a great working relationship.”
Apache Junction Police Department’s traffic unit has five officers with only two currently qualified to investigate an accident like the one in 2024 when a driver under the influence ran into a wall at the Elks Lodge, AJPD Cmdr. Michael Beaton told council.
“The complexity of that accident is pretty big,” he said. “As our population grows, our accidents get a little more complex — and a little more in general.”
Joining the task force will give AJPD access to 29 additional detectives trained in accident reconstruction, he said.
The extra expense of the two AJPD detectives being available on standby is approximately $6,000 a year each if averaging about six callouts a year, Beaton said.
“So it is a very minimal amount for that much that we’re gaining with those 29 other detectives coming in. And we only pay for our detectives. We don’t pay for anything else,” he said.
Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on X @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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