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.
Sandman, you seem like a nice guy who takes pride in his work, so I am going to attempt to keep this from getting personal.
I am not sure where in relation you are to a Chicago or another major city but it sounds like you aren't far from one, and might be on the local level of law enforcement.
In NY we have the State Police, which serve many functions, but one of them that is most important is traffic duty. I don't dislike all cops, in fact I have great respect for the NYPD (even before 9/11) but, you see they have a lot of other things to deal with than speeders. I change my tune when the primary function of a police department seems to be revenue generation.
I am unsure as to where all the money they generate goes. Being that the fines that you pay directly, are to the jurisdiction in which you were caught. Maybe the state police gets a cut then, maybe it just makes its way through the system, I don't know, unfortunately there is nobody on here from the NY state police that could shine some (biased) light on this subject.
I think your doomsday idea of not sitting on the highway is a bit severe. There are roads (some highways, some other) that I have never seen patrolled and others that are patrolled constantly. There doesn't seem to be any general change in the drivers speed patterns go figure :rolleyes:
FWIW, Being involed in a speed contest is a mandatory 6 month revocation of your license in NY. I think if each state starts to crack down and put heavier (sp?) punishment on street racing they will also see a increase in high-speed chases. Just my .02
-Pete
