Originally posted by Sandman333:
Yes, I am going to tell you that revenue generation does not factor, at all, into ticket writing. The city council that I work for contantly harps on us to stay off the highway, stop writing tickets, and stay in town. We still sit on the highway (15 minutes on the hour max), because if we don't people will speed relentlessly and someone will eventually get killed pulling out at an intersection. I give many more verbal warnings each month than I do written citations. Given that, the occasional court expense and car expenses, the city is lucky if they break even on traffic enforcement. Remember, everyone gets their cut of the money, and the funds that come back to the city do not go to the police department, rather it goes into the general fund. Most police departments are like this.
I have never heard of a ticket writing quota, ever. Illinois State Police do have a quota, but it is a contact quota. They are required to have minimum 3 contacts per shift. A contact could be a traffic stop, a motorist assist, etc....
Sure, there are speed traps, but they are not engineered that way. Rather, cops just find good places to hide. It's citizens that get bitter over being caught breaking the law that dub them speed traps.
Sorry, but I just get tired of people saying that cops are rolling revenue generators. If you knew how much money it takes to run a department vs. the fines and fees it generates, you would never say that.
If i may say 1 thing....... When i got pulled over by a NYS Trooper he had N/P giving me a ticket even though i had family that was on the
job! I was not a prick either when he started walking over to the car i had my hands out the window so he could see them and still he gave me a ticket for 81 in a 55 (It was a downhill curve) so when i went to court i brought my uncle with me and the trooper knocked it down to a broken speedo because of my uncle being on the job. What i realized is that half the people in the court room ALL HAD BROKEN SPEEDOS? so tell me something is paying a $85.00+$10.00 for court fees an easy way for bringing in revenue for a small town without hurting the people driving through because a broken speedo is no points on the license. I'm not saying its a bad thing because i was wrong 100% but i'll be more than happy to pay a $100.00 fine then get banged out by the insurance co.
