yeah, or just tax me more for having a higher performance vehicle (like they do in many countries for 2.0 liter + vehicles) instead of wasting law enforcement officers time (and my time) pulling people over.

I think most people have accepted that speeding tickets are mostly a matter of local revenue. There are serious law breakers out there putting people at risk by going double the speed limit on the roads but the vast majority of people (from my circumstancial and limited exposure to traffic courts) are really just commiting low level misdemeanors. They are breaking the law but I'd personally be much happier if the law enforcement officers were spending more time trying to catch credit card fraud and child molestors rather than tracking down my aunt in her Chevy minivan for doing 10mph over the limit.

whoa.. sore spot.

 

Ahhh, but it's not as profitable. They (law enforcement officers) generally only do what they are told by their bosses. If told to write citations, they write citations. If told to learn the law and know the law then they probably would, but that's no what they are told to do.

I once got stopped in Oklahoma and got a warning ticket for "illegal use of fowl (sic) weather lights." I had my headlights (low beam) and fog lights on during a late afternoon. I looked up the Oklahoma statutes and discovered that our cars were wired in such a way to not ALLOW us to break any laws. But the cop didn't know the law. I think few have spent any time in a law library reading the statutes. Thus, when it comes to firearms, you need to protect yourself even farther, to ensure that you keep off the radar screen.

 

Print out a copy of the firearms laws of your state in addition to whatever Federal laws you need to follow. Keep these in your car. If questioned/harassed by a LEO, show them the printouts and how you are abiding by your local laws.

 

The devastating part is the aftermath of the snowball effect the ingnorant cop set in place. When it's over, the lawfully complying citizen has had all their guns taken away, lost their firearms license, incured thousands in attorney's fees & more. The damage has been done and it's unlikely one would be able to get their license & firearms back, and worse of all, the dropped charges may always remain to haunt you. It's disgusting how gun owners in our country are treated as criminals.

 

OH YEAH! Crime intervention instead of revenue generation.

 

And yet LE fancies themselves as "professionals"..


One of the most flagrant abuses of city and state govt is the use of LE for revenue generation. THAT is the focus today, people, not decreasing crime. Put it this way: in 1997, it would cost $6,500 just to process a perp up to booking said suspect in the city jail. ANytime someone is arrested that is another $6500 out of their coffers. (probably alomst double that today) This does not include incarceration and prosecution/defense costs; THEN there is the the cost to incarcerate said criminal after conviction... to the tune of $135,000 (again in 1997)
per year. City hall would much rather have their "finest" writing tickets, rather than busting bad guys, because busting bad guys costs them $$.

Writing tickets costs US $$. See how that woiks?

 

One of the interesting facts I learned while stationed in Massachusetts what that local communities had to split whatever they collected in the way of fines with the Commonwealth. As you can imagine, towns discovered that prosecuting someone was an expensive undertaking and they wound up losing with that arrangement. Over time they came to the correct conclusion that ticketing individuals was a lose lose proposition for them. As a result, many significant moving violations were grossly ignored by LE personnel.