5 ms·

That would be nice. Unfortunately having less crime is not a goal of many police departments, DAs, prosecutors, prison guards and employees, bail bondsman, and

That would be nice. Unfortunately having less crime is not a goal of many police departments, DAs, prosecutors, prison guards and employees, bail bondsman, and basically the entire American criminal "justice" system. The more people they have to harass, the more money they can generate for themselves and all the sketchy for profit companies involved

closeparen 7y ago
Generating revenue through fees and fines is excellent politics: you satisfy the voters' demands for both low taxes and robust services at the same time. The people who end up paying aren't happy, but they're not going to vote.
vharuck 7y ago
The most common example I see of missed opportunities to improve safety over increase revenue is with traffic cops. They often hide, wait for a person to speed by, then pull out and give them a ticket. 10 minutes at least from the time they're pulled over, and who knows how long lying in wait. And it gets one car to drive safely for a day to a month after the incident. Compare that to a situation I just saw on a major highway. One state trooper driving exactly the speed limit in the passing lane. For at least 20 miles, he kept a dozen cars at a safe speed. Not to mention preventing any other unsafe driving. Sure, it only lasted 20 minutes from my point of view, but if he just drove around for a few hours in plain sight, that's a lot of cars driving safely. Sadly, it doesn't generate revenue.
- logfromblammo 7y ago
  While there is significant overlap between driving lawfully and driving safely, they are not identical, so please do not use them interchangeably. When a cop is doing that pace car thing, the safest thing to do is just get off that road, at least for a few minutes, because all of those drivers will be paying more attention to their legality than to their safety. For 20 miles, that example cop kept a dozen cars bunched up together, afraid to pass. It is likely that a pace car cop will pull someone over eventually anyway, so don't even spin that wheel of chance. There are different theories of what "safe driving" is, and the one you subscribe to will affect your opinion of pace car policing.

closeparen 7y ago

Generating revenue through fees and fines is excellent politics: you satisfy the voters' demands for both low taxes and robust services at the same time. The people who end up paying aren't happy, but they're not going to vote.

vharuck 7y ago

The most common example I see of missed opportunities to improve safety over increase revenue is with traffic cops. They often hide, wait for a person to speed by, then pull out and give them a ticket. 10 minutes at least from the time they're pulled over, and who knows how long lying in wait. And it gets one car to drive safely for a day to a month after the incident. Compare that to a situation I just saw on a major highway. One state trooper driving exactly the speed limit in the passing lane. For at least 20 miles, he kept a dozen cars at a safe speed. Not to mention preventing any other unsafe driving. Sure, it only lasted 20 minutes from my point of view, but if he just drove around for a few hours in plain sight, that's a lot of cars driving safely. Sadly, it doesn't generate revenue.

logfromblammo 7y ago
While there is significant overlap between driving lawfully and driving safely, they are not identical, so please do not use them interchangeably. When a cop is doing that pace car thing, the safest thing to do is just get off that road, at least for a few minutes, because all of those drivers will be paying more attention to their legality than to their safety. For 20 miles, that example cop kept a dozen cars bunched up together, afraid to pass. It is likely that a pace car cop will pull someone over eventually anyway, so don't even spin that wheel of chance. There are different theories of what "safe driving" is, and the one you subscribe to will affect your opinion of pace car policing.