In a message dated 7/6/00 6:48:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time, psosborn@gte.net
writes:
<< I have been out of town for a couple of weeks, away from email, and am just
now catching up.....
Jon, we are friends, but in my opinion you are totally out of line with this
line of thinking. Just because you have been harrassed, with questionable
reason, does not necessarily mean that all those fitting your description
are harrassed. Have you done research to prove that the majority of cops
abuse the system? If so, I would like to see your report....Most cops,
including me, do not particularly care to go to court unless there is good
reason, and a sure conviction. Most cops will not waste time with petty
traffic citations just to make numbers. Numbers do not necessarily equate
to traffic citations. Numbers, for our department anyway, meant personal
contacts and other activity, whether or not a citation was issued. And,
although some departments may establish quotas where traffic citations are
concerned, the great majority do not. Yep, in Texas, there are podunk
police departments all over the state, and a lot of them are primarily there
for one thing, traffic tickets mean money in the city coffers. Why else
would a city of less than 200 people require a police department of multiple
officers on duty at any one time? But even at that, you can't blame the
officers if he is in fact only doing his job, and he cites someone for a
blatant violation. Texas legislature could take a cue from some other
states and halt this kind of police activity by legislating city police
courts out of business. Most states have a district court system that does
not allow local governments to reap the profits of multiple traffic
citations by having the district courts collect the fine, pending
conviction, and turning it over to the state, which in turn distributes that
money to jurisdictions all over the state to operate the district court
systems. And to be perfectly honest, I too believe that MOST cops do not
abuse the system, and if that makes me part of the problem, then so be it.
Admittedly, there are a few who find power of the badge too much to resist
the temptation to play God, but those are far and few between. I worked for
27 years in a department of 400 plus sworn officers, and more than 40
non-sworn safety officers. I saw officers come and go during that time,
several due to the inability to perform rationally in certain situations, or
unable to resist temptations presented to them in other situations. But, by
and large we all wanted to go home at the end of the shift, and the great
majority of us were not eager to up the odds of not going home by harrassing
some innocent hippy-looking guy or girl, just because of their appearance.
And the cops I knew would much prefer to give folks the benifit of the doubt
rather than spend time in court that could be spent sleeping or attending
classes. "Dignified yuppie types" were no more of a target than "hippie
types" when it came to writing citations. It was a matter of who broke
laws, and how blantant or dangerous the violation. I would much prefer to
write a violator for blatantly running a red light or stop sign than write
someone for minor speeding, and it is my belief that most officers feel that
way. After all, which is more dangerous? As for the "great blue wall,"
without it our society would be subject to a hell of a lot more harrassment
than from a few bad cops. Think about it the next time you need one...
Phil O. >>
Lots of words to make what I would call a "society" comment. Who cares???
Obey the law, drive safely and respect authority.
Mike(Thats what I'm supossed to say? right) B. 99cm
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