Policing for profit? Atlanta’s leading ticket traps

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has created a database of traffic ticket income for every city and county in Georgia from 2008 through 2012.

According to the AJC’s analysis of ticket revenue per capita, Doraville led the metro area with $847 collected for every man, woman and child living in the city. Rounding out the top five were Morrow, Jonesboro, Pine Lake and Avondale Estates.

The biggest jurisdictions — Atlanta, DeKalb, Gwinnett, etc. — posted low per capita results, but many of them still took in staggering sums during the five years we studied. DeKalb County’s sum was the most staggering of all: $84 million.