Everyone is away of the popular police slogan "to protect and serve". But lately it seems as if local governements - under pressure to bring in revenue - are using the local constables as a collection agency.They rove the streets more than ever pulling folks over and issuing citations with convenient mailers to send in your check. The usual buffers are no longer in place, and tickets are being issued in record numbers.
Some streets are so heavily patrolled it seems as if you pass two or three traffic cops in a short distance. I've actually started avoiding certain areas of St. Charles because of the excessive police presence.
The newest imposition on the citizenry are the automated red light cameras which private companies install. The lion's share of the profits go to the company, and the local government gets a "royalty" for allowing them to use the traffic pole. The fees for these violations, which usually consist of a minor rolling stop or an early stop which didn't register correctly, are usurious, i.e. several hundred dollars. I wonder how many other illegal acts cameras could capture if installed everywhere?
That's why I think the slogan should be recast as "To Protect and Collect".
3 comments:
We may not agree on much, but we agree on this one. I gave up thinking of traffic cops as anything but a total waste of taxpayer money a long time ago. But when I do get stopped, (and I do) I try to be nice. No use making an under achiever mad, particularly one that already has a "tude" and carries a gun...
We even agree on "private enterprise" being given the right to issue tickets, at a profit no less. Anti-cop and anti-private enterprise...see, us left wingers aren't so far out there after all.
(You know I'm having a little fun...right?)
Columbia has gone hog wild withr red light cameras even though they've proven to cause accidents as people do 'weird' things to avoid capture. But revenues are up!
But accidents are good. The insurance companies can up the rates, the car repair places get extra work, auto manufacturers sell more parts and more cars, and the local government can buy more cameras to put at more intersections. Even the health industry gets in on the act with more people in the ERs. An upward economic spiral! How can anyone be against that? (Irony, I loves me some irony.)
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