[Mr 5 0]

I decided to re-visit this thread, and I find the old 'good cops/bad cops' debate as interesting as ever. This subject comes up every few months here, mostly due to a lot of our members being receipents of traffic tickets, deserved or otherwise.

I offered my overview in an earlier post but wanted to comment on the more intense stuff posted, concerning bad cops and revenue enhancement.

In my state, there was a big scandal a few years ago over traffic ticket fines that had exceeded $405. for a 20 mph-over speeding ticket! People were enraged and were clogging up the courts with 'Not Guilty' pleas, so the legislature dropped the fine to around $220. or so, maximum. The reason for the fine increase was simply to raise more money for the state. Of course, like raising cigarette taxes since cigarettes are unhealthy for you, the politicians can hide behind the fact that 'If you don't break the law, you have nothing to worry about' pose. Right.

As noted by others, the State Troopers (at least in my state) are the most professional and courteous, even when giving you a ticket (I know this from experience). Local cops are usually so-so; the 'good ones' (not head-cases on a power trip) tend to get promoted to detective or at least Patrol Sargent, so, unfortunately, the public sees mostly the bottom-rung-level officers on the street.

On the cop's side, it's a crappy job. Dangerous and dealing with scum, most of the time. If I were a cop, I'd consider traffic duty to be a joke, compared to chasing bad guys down an alley, breaking up bar fights and trying to intervene in often-dangerous 'domestic disturbances'.

Despite the denials from some, I believe that traffic ticket revenue is a factor in some traffic law 'enforcement' as we've all seen the 'speed traps' and if you'll notice, most of these appear near the end of the month, when the always-denied 'quotas' are coming due.

Let's face it; most roads have speed limits about 10 -15 mph below what is safe and reasonable and that's for a reason. On almost any local road in America, you can be charged with 'speeding', simply because you're doing a reasonable 35 mph on a road marked for 25, probably around World war II. The town and city authorities know this. It's a game.

When the local police department wants to increase revenue or look like it's 'doing something' about 'speeders', usually due to citizen complaints or a few fatal accidents in a short time span, the radar comes out, the unmarked cars go into service and 'everybody' gets a ticket, it seems.

Of course young people driving flashy, loud 'performance' cars are going to be noticed and singled out by the traffic police This has always been the norm. Drive a beige Honda Accord and you won't be noticed much, but drive a red, loud, Mustang or whatever (even a ricer) and you're probably a target, or at least you're going to be 'noticed'. That's unavoidable. Radar doesn't discriminate at all, although the officer can set the 'tolerance level' where he wants and can stop whomever he chooses. No avoiding the human factor.

Finally, unmarked cars are B.S. Any one who drives knows that a clearly-marked patrol car sitting on the side of the road, visible to all, is going to slow people down for a mile in either direction. Guaranteed. When you go to an unmarked car to 'catch' speeders, it' may be quite legal, but it's a form of entrapment in the sense that everybody 'speeds' - goes 5 or 10 over the posted limit - and an unmarked car simply denies a otherwise reasonable driver the chance to slow down a tad and be 'legal', so he/she is now vulnerable to receiving a 'speeding' ticket.

But, hey: "If you weren't breaking the law you wouldn't have had anything to worry about and noooo, there's no ticket quota in our town, no Sir. Just doing our job, Sir. Have a nice day, now."

As I stated earlier; the cops have most of the power in these situations and the courts back them up 99% of the time. Understand your vulnerability to law enforcement when you're on the road and don't be shocked at a nasty, power-tripping cop harrassing you or getting a ticket for doing an 'illegal' burn-out in front of a cop. C'mon. If you were the cop, you might do the same. Often though, a calm, respectful approach to the cop can get you off, as most cops expect young guys (especially) to be snots, and when you treat them with respect (deserved or not...we're talking survival here) they'll cut you some slack. Worth trying and it's often worked for me.