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Ferguson police officers issued nearly 50 percent more citations in the last year than they did in 2010 – an increase that has not been driven, or even accompanied, by a rise in crime,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder said at a press conference to release finding of its investigation of Ferguson. “Along with taxes and other revenue streams, in 2010, the city collected over $1.3 million in fines and fees collected by the court. For fiscal year 2015, Ferguson’s city budget anticipates fine revenues to exceed $3 million – more than double the total from just five years prior.”
Holder said that Ferguson police officers were pressured to deliver on those revenue goals, some even competed to see who could write the most citations in a single stop.
Anyone else notice that Attorney General is making the same argument that is often made by libertarians and conservatives? That the function of police in the modern tax and spend, big welfare, big nanny state has been perverted from taking down bad guys to collecting taxes?
This is not new. I used to live in that area and remember getting a ticket about 25 years ago in a town called Breckenridge Hills, just across the interstate from Ferguson. I was on a long downhill on a rainy night, and didn't want to hit my brakes too hard. Cop clocked me at something like 34 in a 30. I showed up in court with a weather report from that day and the judge waved me off. "Not interested" were his exact words. I paid my fine and not too much later moved. That area of St. Louis county has a plethora of small municipalities, and they all do what Ferguson did.
General Holder has had five years to address this kind of thing, and hasn't; nor will he ever. He's eyeball deep in the practice of cop as revenue agent himself as atty gen.
It's really neither here nor there when it comes to the Michael Brown case. When I got my ticket for 34 in a 30, I didn't rush the cop, didn't try to grab his gun, and didn't get shot. Not to mention that I hadn't robbed any conveniences stores that day. Still it's interesting that Holder echoes libertarians and conservatives with no sense of regret or remorse.
Anyone else notice that Attorney General is making the same argument that is often made by libertarians and conservatives? That the function of police in the modern tax and spend, big welfare, big nanny state has been perverted from taking down bad guys to collecting taxes?
Holder had a moment of clarity but then of course he had to make it a race issue on increased citations and revenue from fines. There are little towns in my county where their officers write tickets for 3 miles over the speed limit. That is about all their officers do since there is rarely any crime in their town, you see them in their cruisers running radar all day long.
Ferguson is 70% black or so, so the folks getting stopped and ticketed are most likely going to be black.
Yep, blacks make up 67% of the population and were cited 85% for traffic stops and we are supposed to be astounded by this blatant racism [sarcasm]. Anyone who trots out these numbers to prove some kind of racism is a dolt.
Yep, blacks make up 67% of the population and were cited 85% for traffic stops and we are supposed to be astounded by this blatant racism [sarcasm]. Anyone who trots out these numbers to prove some kind of racism is a dolt.
85-67 is a significant but not overwhelming discrepancy. We all know that there are differences in behavior from one identity group to the next. In the state where I live now the top 10 most wanted list of the state patrol is always dominated by Hispanic males. WSP's Most Wanted - Washington State Patrol
When I got my ticket for doing 34 in a 30 on a rainy night on a long downhill in MO, I was white, the cop was white, and Judge "not interested" was white.
85-67 is a significant but not overwhelming discrepancy. We all know that there are differences in behavior from one identity group to the next. In the state where I live now the top 10 most wanted list of the state patrol is always dominated by Hispanic males. WSP's Most Wanted - Washington State Patrol
When I got my ticket for doing 34 in a 30 on a rainy night on a long downhill in MO, I was white, the cop was white, and Judge "not interested" was white.
I hate going though these little towns because I am so speed conscience I am looking at the speedometer way too much and I worry about having a accident.
Little towns are not the only ones, the Ohio state high way patrol have been swamping stretches of highway from time to time. During a 88 mile drive I saw 10 patrol cars just on my side of the road but on a usual trip you would be lucky too see 2. Are they out there revenue generating? I say yes.
Anyone else notice that Attorney General is making the same argument that is often made by libertarians and conservatives? That the function of police in the modern tax and spend, big welfare, big nanny state has been perverted from taking down bad guys to collecting taxes?
This is not new. I used to live in that area and remember getting a ticket about 25 years ago in a town called Breckenridge Hills, just across the interstate from Ferguson. I was on a long downhill on a rainy night, and didn't want to hit my brakes too hard. Cop clocked me at something like 34 in a 30. I showed up in court with a weather report from that day and the judge waved me off. "Not interested" were his exact words. I paid my fine and not too much later moved. That area of St. Louis county has a plethora of small municipalities, and they all do what Ferguson did.
General Holder has had five years to address this kind of thing, and hasn't; nor will he ever. He's eyeball deep in the practice of cop as revenue agent himself as atty gen.
It's really neither here nor there when it comes to the Michael Brown case. When I got my ticket for 34 in a 30, I didn't rush the cop, didn't try to grab his gun, and didn't get shot. Not to mention that I hadn't robbed any conveniences stores that day. Still it's interesting that Holder echoes libertarians and conservatives with no sense of regret or remorse.
Missouri is local government taken to the extreme. It's decentralized and has so little "Big Government" control over municipal actions that the biggest government in the land had to step in.
This is small local government run-amok. It's bad government, not big government.
Missouri is local government taken to the extreme. It's decentralized and has so little "Big Government" control over municipal actions that the biggest government in the land had to step in.
This is small local government run-amok. It's bad government, not big government.
It's big government in the sense that the government exerts its dominance over the people. It's no different from flim flam operations pulled by Holder, whether 'Fast and Furious,' or various other operations conducted under his aegis:
More small cities, than not, use traffic fines, or sundry other kinds of fines, court costs and so forth, to get revenue. I do not know that the racial component changed the fundamental fact of raising 'revenue', when the commercial - especially - and residential property tax and sale tax are insufficient to support the cities services.
Last edited by earthlyfather; 03-12-2015 at 09:44 AM..
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