I have had relatively few traffic tickets, yet I can say that I have
lost far more money to cops in the form of traffic tickets than I have
from thieves.
In 2005, I had someone steal a check for over $200 from my mailbox, forge my name and deposit into his bank account. The number of the account that the check was deposited in was printed on the back of the check. I went to the station to report the crime. I had a copy of the check. All the cop had to do was go to the bank, get the name of the account owner, and make the arrest. Anyone could have done it, it wasn't a hard crime to solve. The cops told me that they didn't have the manpower to solve a crime for such a small amount of money. On the way home, I passed 6 cops with cars pulled over, writing traffic tickets.
In 2000, my car was broken into, and my stereo, radar detector, cash, and other items totaling about $600 was stolen from it. The crime scene investigator came out and took fingerprints. They got a hit, and gave me the name of the person, and asked me to sign a paper saying that this man did not have permission to be in my vehicle. A month later, I was told that the criminal would not be arrested because the crime was too minor to waste resources on.
As a paramedic in 2010, I ran a call on a report of man who was unconscious and slumped over the wheel at an intersection. When I got there, he was obviously drunk, and I reached in and took the keys out of the ignition and put them on the vehicle roof. When the cops got there, they let the man call his girlfriend and let her give him a ride home. They said that they couldn't prove that he was behind the wheel. I told them I would testify, but then the cop told me that his shift was over soon, and he didn't want to stay late to do the paperwork.
Yet, in 2001 I got a traffic ticket for $184, which I subsequently paid. Eleven years later, the court sends me a letter saying that they miscalculated the fine for the ticket, and I owe them another $32. So it appears that no amount of money is too small when they stand to lose it.
I would rather take my chances with the supposed criminals. At least I can fight back against them.
3 comments:
As I suggest on my blog today, cops aren't an investment on our part. They're an investment on the government's part, a way for it to get more money and power from us.
Agreed. The local sheriffs office here is whining that they don't have enough money and several deputies will have to be laid off. They said this means there will be times we are all unprotected (well--not those of us who love the second amendment).
...yet I see them every day pulling people over and writing tickets.
I'll start increasing their budget when the deputies are too busy trying to solve crimes to harass people over stupid BS.
Last year in Dallas there was a kerfuffle when a woman ran to a Constable (serves subpoenas, foreclosure notices, etc) after her children were kidnapped.
This Certified PeaceKeeper, this swown law officer would not follow in hot pursuit because it was against policy.
The non-custodial father drowned the children before the police the constable called could find him.
I think Robert Hewes has a valid point....cops are a revenue source and crimes that don't produce revenue are treated poorly.
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