News, Tennessee constables don't have ticket quotas. Instead they work on commission, $20 to $40 per ticket. (Knoxville: live)

[JD59]

Failure to dim bright lights.

A broken taillight.

No seat belt.

Those are just some of the minor traffic infractions motorists are being pulled over for in Cocke County by one of its constables.

And for every one of those offenses, $22 goes into Derek Wright's pocket.

Tennessee constables aren't salaried, but they can make money » Knoxville News Sentinel

[jchometeam]

Dont break the law- and you should have nothing to worry about. Life is pretty simple.

Constables are elected officials- if Cocke County residents do not like this- vote him out.

Finally, in a backwards way all law enforcement is similar- its just hidden. The county and states need money to fund law enforcement and everything else- and one way they get it is from citations. Less citations = less funds = less services/lower pay for employees.

[hiknapster]

Where I lived in Florida - Lee County - they would have contests. One with the most citations could win a golf outing, hunting or fishing trip, all kinds of goodies.

But Cocke County is a special place, one of the most corrupt small-town governments in the country and it goes back for generations. Cocke County Confidential Information & News from Knoxville News Sentinel (Knoxville, TN)

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by John1960

Failure to dim bright lights.

A broken taillight.

No seat belt.

Those are just some of the minor traffic infractions motorists are being pulled over for in Cocke County by one of its constables.

And for every one of those offenses, $22 goes into Derek Wright's pocket.

Tennessee constables aren't salaried, but they can make money » Knoxville News Sentinel

Failure to dim bright lights can be a hazard, but it should be a warning...that can be an easy one that you don't realize you are doing.

But a broken taillight? If they didn't ticket people for that, some people would never bother to fix them.

No seat belt? That's an obvious one. They've been harping on that really hard for the past decade or so. People should know better by now. Plus, it's a good habit.



Do I like the idea of paying officers of the law via commission? No. I think it would have the tendency to lead to overzealous officers writing more tickets and having zero tolerance for people going barely over the speed limit, or stopping a couple of feet past the line an intersection, etc. in order to make a little more money (or in some cases, really just to make ends meet).

But it should be noted that per the article, it doesn't look like any of these guys are getting rich off of it. I'd be a lot more concerned if officers were pocketing $60-70,000 over this....rather than $19,000. From the positive side of it...these guys actually have to work to get paid.

[hiknapster]

They are not suppose to have incentives for those very reasons. The Lee County, FL cops were stopping everyone for anything; many, many say for nothing. I was stopped a couple of times for no reason at all, like he was fishing. Fortunately I didn't get tickets but it was beyond ridiculous. Finally the incentive situation was brought to light and it was stopped.

[DonCorleone]

I think the incentive issue is problematic at best, but nashvols' point about them not getting rich is well-taken. That said, I could see where the potential for abuse or excessive ticketing is a real possibility. There should be some level of oversight...let's face it...when "good" voter turnout is 20%, I seriously doubt most people are engaged or informed enough to make a decision on who to vote for Constable. So voter oversight is probably not effective. But having a county or statewide commission or something of that nature to appeal to would be wise, I think.

Honestly, I'd never seen nor heard of a Constable until about 2 years ago...and if he'd tried to pull me over, I'd have been very cautious and tried to pull over in high traffic area. Sheriff...sure, Police...of course, but "Constable" sounds like a madeup title someone could use to try to shakedown people.

[DonCorleone]

Follow up: Sumner County (NE of Davidson/Nashville) voted to strip Constables of their legal powers, effective next August. I wouldn't be surprised if other counties don't follow their lead.