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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2006
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    between here and there, but you can't here from there
    Posts
    547

    Default Its All About Money

    I found this quote by UsedBranFlakes and it is thought provoking.

    "
    That meant that leaving a note was not enough if a "reasonable person" would opine that the damage was $250 or more. ...but that was back before our Police departments became para military and were a slot machine of sorts for the County or City. You see, the courts got $40-$70 for each case (a lot back in the 80s and 90s) and the fines were usually $100-$200. A good judge taking guilty pleas could knock out 10 cases in an hour! Most people just paid the fines. Most of those were for speeding and people were guilty. Now a ticket is issued for everything because it generates revenue.

    ...and in some cases the brotherhood of attorneys know that fighting a case is good for their economy and many prosecutors are (smartly) advising that a defendant hire a defense attorney. I heard it in NC and GA a LOT! One prosecutor won't even talk plea bargains to the defendant in NC unless the person shows up with an attorney."

    Do you agree that the modern justice system is more about money than justice in minor cases? I do and here is my reasoning:

    Paying money to the state is no form of punishment; rather it serves to financially injure the already poor people. The rich can pay the fine and walk away without a scratch, but for those that are stretching every penny, it isn't a punishment, it is a near impossiblity.

    Suppose that person was struggling to care for his family and was on his way to a second job, running late and went a little over the limit and along comes supercop and cites the already late person for a 10-over infraction. Now, the money is one thing, but now he is very late and may lose his job. Next up is the fine, which come be a very high, very hard to pay fine and then that is backed by the insurance compnay who, again, will fine the insured man for an additional three years.

    The already struggling man now has more to pay, more to worry about, less money coming home for his hours away.


    Now, I am not saying one should go unpunished, but there are always other options available rather than the money. Why not offer community service, probation with less fines, or a combo of the three.

    County employees that perform meanial tasks are paid alot of money for jobs of no skill. Why not issue the fine-- say $100, then have it deducted at a rate of $5 per hour? Thats 20 hours of labor vs the labor cost of a county employee. There are some that will quickly point out the liabilities of doing this, but with proper preperation of papers, a waiver can be signed releasing the county/state of any liablities, right? And, no taxes to pay on employees.

    Maybe I am just babbling, but there do seem to be other ideas than just using the police to scrounge up revenue for the county and state and using the courts to do it.

    What are your thoughts? Would you prefer to do a little labor or pay up? Maybe a little mix and match?? Or is my medicine causing irrational thought?

  2. #2

    Default Re: Its All About Money

    I certainly share your frustration. I've been stopped by police 3 times over the summer, twice for speeding and once for failing to come to a complete stop.

    The first speeding ticket was when I used the pass lane to get around a slow truck. The police had a speed trap where the speed limit dropped from 50 mph to 35 mph.

    The second speeding ticket I was caught after coming down a steep hill and there was a speed trap at the bottom of the hill. This was also at a location where the speed limit was reduced.

    In both cases I was charged with doing 10 over the limit.

    The failure to stop incident was BS and I would've fought it had I not only been given a warning. The thing that really ticked me off was that it was a four-way stop that is extremely busy during the week and there are always problems in the mornings and afternoons. It isn't bad on weekends and I was stopped on a Sunday and the intersection was completely empty at the time. I'm also pretty sure I had completely stopped.

    It also bothers me that the officers were fairly arrogant about the whole thing. At 38 years old, I'm not about to argue about getting pulled over. I'm not happy about it and would like to get it over with. I trust that the officer has some evidence and I know I won't have time to fight it anyway, so I try to be polite and honest about it. In both of the speeding stops I was asked what the emergency was. I calmly stated that there was no emergency and I was just going home or wherever. They don't seem to want to accept it and offer some lame excuses for me to use. I explain that I have no excuse but they continue on like they are looking for an argument. I even asked one officer why he wouldn't believe me that I was just driving home, he said he was "just wondering". Come on now, if there was a real emergency don't you think I would have been going a lot faster? I definitely would have told you immediately if I had a real problem.

    Anyway, I do believe it's all about generating revenue. Set up a trap and just wave us over and dole out your citations. It will cost us more to fight you than to pay you; it's easy money. The police won't do anything about theft or vandalism because they don't have the resources, I guess they are too busy stopping all of us dangerous 10 over the limit speeders.

    END OF RANT.

    Thanks for listening

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