Sticking it to poor people
Some laws are enforced in a way that make is seem like we just like hassling poor people. This extra 15 bucks strikes me as just a way to add injury to insult.
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Let me get this right–they need to go up 15 bucks on low hanging fruit to afford to get the violent criminals off the street. Meanwhile, it’s stated they need more traffic police to enforce us low hanging fruit to pay for the violent crime expense. How about instead, we wave them on when choosing between me and the 3 crack houses ahead to investigate, and then give a big bonus for every real criminal they bring to justice? I would gladly give 15 bucks to that, but you don’t have to really mess me up, divert police time and talent, and bankrupt me in the name of going after the “big fish”!!! Geesh….
It’s wrong. How about making the violent criminals pay for violent crime? Regardless, this is becoming very popular across the country as a way to generate money. Add this hefty fee to the existing Victim’s Compensation fee, court costs, Video Arraignment fees, etc., that is levied on traffic violators. Then, if it’s a moving violation, your insurance company takes their cut by raising your rates.
Are these the same douche bag legislators who criticized the small town speed traps? The difference was that now the money is going to state controlled fund to be doled out to the agencies based on “population density”. Looks like the small towns get boned again.
And, Mike Capriglione, whom I know, is full of shit if he thinks this won’t affect how police write tickets. All the overtime a police officer works for DUI checkpoints, passenger restraint, speed enforcement, etc. are already covered by state and federal grants through the Office of Highway safety, who gets it from the feds through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“Markell and policymakers saw the fee as a politically safe alternative to forcing the cash-strapped city of Wilmington or New Castle County to squeeze homeowners for higher property taxes.”
That about explains it… revenue generation. At least Markell didn’t have to ass-bang the state employees in this latest scheme.
I guess I can fight this by obeying the laws.
Fuck.
@Mis -you left out aggressive driving too
how about – me, you, both bikes – lets let it rip on Rt1
say – BB to the IRB? NB or SB not important
one can hit 140mph and just feel the breeze – what does that ticket cost now??
Prig’s eyes are brown, and still a spin doctor, as I remember…..
The State works together with the auto insurance companies to keep the money flowing.
The price of a ticket on its face is high enough now that you would think it would be worth it to contest every ticket. But it’s not.
Every traffic ticket is essentially a plea bargain: Mail in your money and the state doesn’t assess points on your driver’s license. But if you take it to court and are found guilty, points are assessed, and the real cost of the ticket is much higher as your insurance rates are increased.
There is something corrupt in being offered something of value in exchange for your testimony (actually there is an amazing Federal ruling that makes it legal for government to bribe witnesses – worth a post in itself).
A simple insurance reform that blocks a rate rise for most minor infractions would bring some sanity back. Then you could go to court without fear of pricing yourself out of your auto insurance.
I also don’t like the idea of the funds being earmarked for police. This too is corrupt, since the police are the ones who generate the tickets. Each ticket they write is a check they write to themselves.
And it raises less questions than overtime :(.
Puck for President!
Puck for a Posting. More on federal bribes for witnesses. or lack of witnesses? Like Colombia?
US vs. Singleton. There’s a Frontline show about it.
This ruling is probably the key thing enabling the prosecutorial overreach that is now part of nearly every prosecution down to traffic tickets. It is a true oddity at the heart of our legal system.
In 1997 Sonya Singleton was in court for running drugs and money for a dealer. The evidence against her was testimony from a co-defendant who had been promised leniency in exchange for testimony.
Singleton’s lawyer correctly perceived that this was bribery. The government was offering the witness something of value in exchange for testimony, violating Federal anti-bribery statutes. The judge in the case rejected that argument, saying that law did not apply to the government.
But a 3-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court overturned it on appeal, agreeing with Singleton’s argument that the witness was bribed. An entirely logical conclusion based on the plain meaning of the words in the law.
The entire law enforcement and prosecutorial community freaked out. The full 10th then met and vacated the ruling, and eventually ruled 9-3 that the original judge was correct and that law did not apply to the government.
The logic behind the final ruling hinged on crazy stuff like the meaning of the word “whoever” and the belief that bribing witnesses was part of the “ingrained culture” of prosecution and therefore could not be eliminated.
Excuse me but there is no other way to say it: “The money is in fucking with motorists.” Period. If you don’t believe it, go to CCP on traffic ticket plea day. And with the crime central connected computer in the police cars, they have your rap sheet pulled before they even step out of the car; assuming you are driving your own registered vehicle. So if you have a drug conviction history, for example, the cop will find cause to search. Even if it’s just an “inventory search” in the event of a DUI tow-job.
Report a stolen bicycle and see what kind of service you get.
Excuse me but there is no other way to say it: “The money is in fucking with motorists.” Period.
I drove an old beater for way too long for just that reason. If they fucked with me for more than a couple hundred bucks and they said “Pay or we seize the car,” my plan was to say “OK, here’s the keys.”
“Report a stolen bicycle and see what kind of service you get.”
Report a fucking burglary, and see what kind of service you get. After the officer was done messing up the crime scene, I took evidence pictures, tracked the thief in the snow to the nearest development, found a stash of some of my stolen property in the woods, provide additional evidence to establish a clear pattern, or modus operandi, in the recent thefts in my neighborhood. What did I get?
Jack.Shit.
“Markell and policymakers saw the fee as a politically safe alternative to forcing the cash-strapped city of Wilmington or New Castle County to squeeze homeowners for higher property taxes.”
One of the better things that Markell and policymakers could do before they start asking for more money is to spend some time taking a good hard look at the way the City of Wilmington and NCCo are currently making use of the resources they already have. I do know that in the City, the WPD’s signature skill has been in extracting resources out of taxpayers, without much impact on what city residents expect from police. So for all of the effort that city residents have been making to get the WPD to make much better use of these resources, all of that goes out of the door as the City has just found a new sugar daddy. With no incentives to even think about approaching their work differently.
Got in my car to find someone tossed a weathered, stripped purse w/ ID from another state in the back seat. Took it to nearest police station (it was county or state). They told me the purse fell into other jurisdiction (county or state) for turning in. I said the hell with the purse. Don’t you want to check to see if this person is dead, alive or kidnapped from the other state? I mean the ID was in the purse. I get more animation from a toll booth attendant. I am worried. I will now get more speeding tickets for probably having to chase my own perpetrators.
From the NJ:
“This isn’t like it’s going to our pension plans, or our benefits or something like that,” Capriglione said. “This is going to assist people in high-crime areas where they can finally have some peace and quiet … and get the criminals off the street.”
This isn’t going to assist in high crime areas, unless the PDs involved actually get some policing done in high crime areas. It also pretends that the PDs can actually stop alot of violent crime, which they can’t. BUT I wouldn’t mind a proposal to use this money for the PD pension fund or benefits and release taxpayers from this obligation, which would be the big money saver here.
“BUT I wouldn’t mind a proposal to use this money for the PD pension fund or benefits and release taxpayers from this obligation, which would be the big money saver here.”
That does cut through the pretense of using the funds for violent crime fighting, but I still envision massive ticket writing parties. My perspective is from the head of an agency that kept most of its fine money.
There are only a few hundred troopers. I always thought we should make an effort to get to know them in our neighborhoods, and tell them face to face in civilian clothing how we feel. This is Delaware – there is no reason our cops should be anonymous mirror-shaded automatons. They are our neighbors. I know five or six myself. If they won’t bring community policing to us we can bring it to them.
but I still envision massive ticket writing parties
Well, if we’re fantasizing here, we get the fees on traffic violations lifted. Which then changes the policing incentives pretty dramatically.
And given the astonishing number of Federal grants that seem to be available to support PDs, I’m having a hard time thinking that these departments are that strapped.
A year or so back, the WPD was trying to apply for a grant to create or update a Marine unit. This was something of a big deal, since folks in the city (including me) were asking how they could focus on marine patrols in Wilmington when they were’t doing an especially good job of patrolling known crime areas. When the grant got to City Council to vote on, all hell broke lose on the floor. Schiliro actually got to speak to the City Council to advocate for this. The end of the story was that apparently this grant did not exist for marine units, even though Schiliro was plumping for it. Highly embarrassing for the WPD and the Administration.
“Well, if we’re fantasizing here, we get the fees on traffic violations lifted. Which then changes the policing incentives pretty dramatically.”
That would be a fantasy. I appreciate your point, but the latest (disproportionate) fee is the only one that affects the PDs directly. The Victim’s Compensation is a percentage of the fine. The rest essentially benefit the courts.
“And given the astonishing number of Federal grants that seem to be available to support PDs, I’m having a hard time thinking that these departments are that strapped.”
Truth. Aside from some of the smallest municipal and state agencies, I’d say if any PD is hurting for resources, their leadership is totally incompetent. Most of the larger agencies hire or assign officers specifically for grant acquisition. There are grants available for overtime, weapons, vehicles, training, specialized equipment, etc. I sent officers for specialized training to a military base in the southwest. All I had to do was get them to the airport, and the rest was covered by the military. They came back trained, certified, and we were given tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment. This happened annually for a few years.
“A year or so back, the WPD was trying to apply for a grant to create or update a Marine unit… ”
Since the Coast Guard cut back their operations in Delaware, a marine unit seems to be a running fantasy of most larger departments. At one time, DSP tried to ‘acquire’ the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Marine patrol. It surprises me that Schiliro was advocating for this for WPD, instead of expanding the operations, and jurisdiction, of the State Police. They may not have been a specific grant, but I’d bet the boats and related infrastructure could have been acquired from the military for a song.