[steel7]

A cops job is to serve & protect NOT serve & collect.

[tijlover]

Originally Posted by counter42

With the economy in tough shape, who can afford a traffic ticket. Just a thought, why don't we all obey the speed limits, don't run red lights, have our insurance and registration up to date, make sure all of our running lights work, and don't drink and drive. They are only out to make money anyway. Why don't we obey the letter of the law and just drive safely. Most of us do it anyway. And when they find traffic ticket revenues falling, maybe we can put some of them out of business. It is not like the threat of tickets and DUI is a deterrent. There are probably moe DUI tickets than ever, although I don't have the exact statistics. Has the electric chair stopped murder?? But we can make a change. What if there were no tickets written in the next month? That would put a hurtin on revenue.

Bad idea!

If they start losing revenue with people obeying the traffic laws, they'll find a way of increasing those revenues. Easy to do. 55MPH goes to 45, 35MPH goes to 25, 25MPH goes to 15, 15 MPH goes to 5.

After that, people are still obeying the traffic laws, well, what's next?
Posted speed limits for pedestrians walking on the sidewalks, monitored by cameras. Why would they do something like this? They'll say: to reduce pedestrian injuries, rear-end and head-on collisions. A walking speed of 5MPH. If you're caught walking 7MPH, a hefty fine!

[tijlover]

Originally Posted by Mike Peterson

With the recidivism rate at about 35% for murderers I would say the electric chair has stopped many murders.

Really! From all that I've read, after the reinstallment of the death penalty,
the murder rates went up, not down.

To many murderers it's been a godsend. Who wants "death" without parole?

[ferret111]

I've just heard stories about municipalities shortening the yellow light so as to catch more drivers off-guard. There are other stories about cameras being hyper-sensitive and ticketing drivers for making a right on red, even after they came to a stop.

[Mike1306]

Originally Posted by tijlover

Really! From all that I've read, after the reinstallment of the death penalty,
the murder rates went up, not down.

To many murderers it's been a godsend. Who wants "death" without parole?

Pretty simple.

If they are dead they can not kill again.

[rusty78]

Cops are considered by some to be a necessary evil that we cannot live without......but just imagine life without them......you can always hear someone saying..."you can never find one when you need one"...... or there all at the donut shop getting coffee......but when their running to call of an injury/theft/crime in progress...everyone is happy to see them when they roll up...except of course the criminal who was not smart enough to escape...

You might even consider them to be the military of the town or area that you live in...for who would enforce the laws or stop the bully from doing what ever he wanted...if it were not for the cops...so suck it up and be happy you have someone out there willing to put their life on the line so you can have your's...

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by ferret111

I don't mind cops giving tickets, but I don't like them coming from red light cameras. Those things are ripe for corruption.

Interesting - I was just thinking about this same subject today. I am sure some traffic lights on route 41 are set to shorten the time it takes to turn red. Also, sometimes you can enter an intersection when the light is green and get stuck half way across the road because the cars in front of you aren't moving. Do you back up so the camera won't catch you? I'm a very careful driver and still get that safe driver discount from my insurance company, but those cameras annoy me.

[justNancy]

Originally Posted by Mike Peterson

Pretty simple.

If they are dead they can not kill again.

Oh, I get it. Clever. However, it's true that most studies conclude that the Death Penalty doesn't deter crime.

I'm always sick to my stomach when I read about the 20 or 30 other arrests after someone commits a crime. Why do they get out? I know it's because of overcrowding, but can't we use something like this (https://www.spacebag.com/10/Default.aspx - broken link) to save space?

I hope the men in CT on trial for that 2007 home invasion are tortured before they get sent to hell.

(and everyone calls me a liberal!)

[Mike1306]

Originally Posted by justNancy

Oh, I get it. Clever. However, it's true that most studies conclude that the Death Penalty doesn't deter crime.

Life imprisonment does not deter crime either.

"Common sense, lately bolstered by statistics, tells us that the death penalty will deter murder... People fear nothing more than death. Therefore, nothing will deter a criminal more than the fear of death... life in prison is less feared. Murderers clearly prefer it to execution -- otherwise, they would not try to be sentenced to life in prison instead of death... Therefore, a life sentence must be less deterrent than a death sentence. And we must execute murderers as long as it is merely possible that their execution protects citizens from future murder." Ernest Van Den Haag, PhD

[1coolcustomer]

Originally Posted by tijlover

Really! From all that I've read, after the reinstallment of the death penalty,
the murder rates went up, not down.

To many murderers it's been a godsend. Who wants "death" without parole?

Most that get executed don't want it that way, they hope for stays, clemency...they really want to live. Recently on NGC they did a story on 3 executions and 2 of them really wanted to live the rest of their lives in prison. One condemned man even remarked that he would only be receiving a dosage of Sodium thiopental to knock out a 160 lb. man and he weighed 230 lbs. so he was very concerned that he would feel pain and the paraylysis part of the execution would be unpleasant. Oh, the poor baby! How much concern did he have for his victim's pain when he killed?