Las Animas posts camera reminder amid traffic safety push

Residents driving through Las Animas are being warned again to slow down, with the city posting Cameras Make A Difference on May 27 and placing it in the latest-news feed beside Slow Down Is Incredible and a CDOT road-work notice. The message points straight at one of the city’s busiest stretches: Highway 50 between Maple Street and Grand Avenue, where cameras were installed on a utility pole earlier this spring.

Mayor Charles Shupe said the cameras were part of a speed study and were not ticket-generating cameras. That is the clearest sign yet of what the city says it is trying to change on that corridor, where through-traffic, local drivers and summer travelers all share the same roadway. In a town this size, a camera is not just hardware on a pole. It is a public signal that speeding is being watched and that officials want drivers to alter behavior before a crash, a warning or a citation.

The timing also matters. The camera reminder followed a run of transportation notices on the city’s website, including the Colorado Department of Transportation’s separate alert about intersection and culvert improvements in southeastern Colorado. Put together, the posts show a city using its official channels to press a simple point: roads around Las Animas are active, changing and under closer attention as the season shifts into heavier travel.

The reminder also landed during a broader restructuring of local policing. Chief David W. Dougherty officially took charge of the Las Animas Police Department on January 5 and brings more than 40 years of law-enforcement experience. Deputy Chief Austin L. Friederichs brings more than 22 years of experience. The city has said the department is meant to work in partnership with the community, and earlier reporting said it would work alongside the Bent County Sheriff’s Office as it moved toward full operation by March 1.

A separate May 21 social media policy announcement adds another layer of oversight to the city’s online communications, including the city and police department accounts now being used to push safety messages. In a county of just under 15,000 people, with Trinidad as the county seat, Las Animas is making plain that traffic behavior on Highway 50 is no longer something city leaders intend to leave unspoken.