School bus traffic safety debated at town meeting

At a recent Woodbury Town Board meeting, a Monroe resident claimed the Town of Woodbury Police were issuing more traffic violation tickets to boost revenue and targeting Jewish drivers. A claim both Town Supervisor Jacqueline Hernandez and Woodbury Police Chief Kevin Watson denied.

Speaking at the Aug. 6 meeting, Abraham Muller of Monroe suggested, without evidence, that the Town of Woodbury handed out more traffic violation tickets to boost revenue.

Muller also dismissed the issue of school bus traffic safety, and claimed some Woodbury residents were stalking visibly-Jewish vehicles looking to catch them violating the law.

“I could not find the last five weeks or so, one single bus who broke the law,” Muller said. “I invite everybody of you [to] go follow them and record them, which I know there is people in Woodbury who are doing it because they are miserable people who have nothing better to do with their lives, have no jobs or retired people, and walking around and following every bus or Jewish car that’s possibly going to break the law to be able to report it to the police.”

Town does not use tickets to boost revenue or target a specific group

Responding to Muller’s claims, Hernandez said she has never given a directive to the Town of Woodbury Police Department to issue traffic violations to a specific group, or increase traffic violations for revenue.

Watson explained that historically, the town sees an uptick in traffic violations during this time of the year as more people travel and students are out of school. He said the police department is on track to write about 8,000 tickets this year.

In May 2026, the Town of Woodbury Police Department issued 828 traffic violations, according to a police and communication report.

“No specific group is ever targeted,” Watson said. “We don’t target specific groups, we target bad behavior.”

Resident says buses have violated traffic law

Highland Mills resident Jimmy Ng disputed the idea that school buses in the area have not committed any traffic violations in recent months. He voiced concerns about school bus traffic safety during previous town and village board meetings after witnessing multiple buses violate traffic rules, including making broken U-turns and rolling stops.

“These buses are a danger,” Ng said. “I challenge any board member, any resident here, tell me that I’m wrong, that there is no concern.”

Watson encouraged residents to call the police department’s non-emergency line if they have a traffic complaint.