4 ms·

To get to 12 tickets an hour, you need at least 12 offenders an hour which is probably the bottleneck the GP alluded to. That said, 5 minutes per ticket pretty

To get to 12 tickets an hour, you need at least 12 offenders an hour which is probably the bottleneck the GP alluded to. That said, 5 minutes per ticket pretty much requires offenders to present themselves in a nice, orderly line. A more normal scenario where the officer has to cruise around, pull someone over, get out, talk to the person ("no no, I'm not passing through, my sick uncle lives over there"), write the ticket and get back in the patrol car, I'd guess closer to 15 minutes as a lower bound. Also, doesn't Waze have a feature where you can warn other driver against this kind of thing? That would further reduce the ticket-rate.

mikeash 10y ago
$400/hour would still be plenty. Usually they go after speeders, which are really easy to catch, because everybody speeds. It's often an unwritten rule that you don't get ticketed unless you're going 10+ over the limit, but revenue-hungry jurisdictions don't need to honor that. I'm sure Waze cuts down on this, but they can hit a trouble/lucrative spot for a day or three, then move on.
zo1 10y ago
Even with 15 minute per ticket, that's ~$400/hr. Assuming he spends two hours there, and gets an average of 8 tickets per day, that still accounts for almost $200,000 per year. That's a ridiculous amount. Of course, doesn't take into account individuals learning and adjusting their behaviour accordingly, instead of being repeat offenders on the same street.
GVIrish 10y ago
> That said, 5 minutes per ticket pretty much requires offenders to present themselves in a nice, orderly line. Officers get exactly that when they set up shop in a place where they know there are going to be plenty of violators. Highway 66 inside of the DC beltway is HOV during rush hour. The police will just sit at the end of the on ramp and write tickets for everyone trying to cheat HOV or with expired tags or inspection. Makes for a great haul, especially because HOV tickets are $125 for the first offense, $250 for the second, $500 for the third, and $1000 for the fourth.
- mikeash 10y ago
  And court stuff is minimal for that one because there is absolutely zero room for discretion on the part of the judge if the violation is established. If it's shown that you did violate the HOV rules, then you must be fined the given amount, doesn't matter what your reasons were. If you got a ticket, it's pretty much a given that they can show that the violation occurred.
- jo909 10y ago
  I kind of want my police force to do their controls in the most efficient manner, to catch the most violators with the least amount of manpower. (Of course supplemented with an element of surprise.) No real reason to make a DUI checkpoint in the end of a cul-de-sac, is there?
  - brbsix 10y ago
    Unless they're doing the wrong things (e.g. warrantless surveillance, civil asset forfeiture) in which case that efficiency starts to look quite terrifying.
pixl97 10y ago
I think you underestimate the average cost of a ticket. Our city sets the minimum ticket price close to the maximum price set by the state. It is hard to get away from less than a $250 ticket. The means of writing a ticket are automated. The second they type in your plate it looks up your record, which they cross check your ID. The cop verifies it and sees if you have any warrants or are committing any other crimes. It prints out on a handheld unit the officer carries. Most of the time you are in and out in less than 5 minutes. If you are not, it is very likely you are paying much higher fines.
matwood 10y ago
In cases like cut throughs, or common speeding areas 3 officers can write many more than 12 tickets/hour. I see it quite frequently. 1 officer stands off to the side behind a tree and watches for infraction. Sees infraction and walks out in the road and points to the driver to pull over onto a side street into the line of people getting tickets from the other 2 officers. Really quite efficient.
uremog 10y ago
I'm pretty sure that most states, if not all, have certain freeways where police could have a constant feed of speeders.

mikeash 10y ago

$400/hour would still be plenty. Usually they go after speeders, which are really easy to catch, because everybody speeds. It's often an unwritten rule that you don't get ticketed unless you're going 10+ over the limit, but revenue-hungry jurisdictions don't need to honor that. I'm sure Waze cuts down on this, but they can hit a trouble/lucrative spot for a day or three, then move on.

zo1 10y ago

Even with 15 minute per ticket, that's ~$400/hr. Assuming he spends two hours there, and gets an average of 8 tickets per day, that still accounts for almost $200,000 per year. That's a ridiculous amount. Of course, doesn't take into account individuals learning and adjusting their behaviour accordingly, instead of being repeat offenders on the same street.

GVIrish 10y ago

> That said, 5 minutes per ticket pretty much requires offenders to present themselves in a nice, orderly line. Officers get exactly that when they set up shop in a place where they know there are going to be plenty of violators. Highway 66 inside of the DC beltway is HOV during rush hour. The police will just sit at the end of the on ramp and write tickets for everyone trying to cheat HOV or with expired tags or inspection. Makes for a great haul, especially because HOV tickets are $125 for the first offense, $250 for the second, $500 for the third, and $1000 for the fourth.

mikeash 10y ago
And court stuff is minimal for that one because there is absolutely zero room for discretion on the part of the judge if the violation is established. If it's shown that you did violate the HOV rules, then you must be fined the given amount, doesn't matter what your reasons were. If you got a ticket, it's pretty much a given that they can show that the violation occurred.
jo909 10y ago
I kind of want my police force to do their controls in the most efficient manner, to catch the most violators with the least amount of manpower. (Of course supplemented with an element of surprise.) No real reason to make a DUI checkpoint in the end of a cul-de-sac, is there?
- brbsix 10y ago
  Unless they're doing the wrong things (e.g. warrantless surveillance, civil asset forfeiture) in which case that efficiency starts to look quite terrifying.

pixl97 10y ago

I think you underestimate the average cost of a ticket. Our city sets the minimum ticket price close to the maximum price set by the state. It is hard to get away from less than a $250 ticket. The means of writing a ticket are automated. The second they type in your plate it looks up your record, which they cross check your ID. The cop verifies it and sees if you have any warrants or are committing any other crimes. It prints out on a handheld unit the officer carries. Most of the time you are in and out in less than 5 minutes. If you are not, it is very likely you are paying much higher fines.

matwood 10y ago

In cases like cut throughs, or common speeding areas 3 officers can write many more than 12 tickets/hour. I see it quite frequently. 1 officer stands off to the side behind a tree and watches for infraction. Sees infraction and walks out in the road and points to the driver to pull over onto a side street into the line of people getting tickets from the other 2 officers. Really quite efficient.

uremog 10y ago

I'm pretty sure that most states, if not all, have certain freeways where police could have a constant feed of speeders.