re: <WOB> Need help with tickets....

["I.L. Eberhart" <eberhart@xxxxxxx>]

Let me start off by saying that Reynaldo is a comrade, so this ain't a flame.
Reynaldo, 
I hope you were kidding in your post. The police do not get a commission of
the ticket. Even in the most corrupt departments, the police don't get a
commission. I was a police officer (in a corrupt department) and know first
hand that the local government gets all the money. This is why you usually
don't see local police on interstates. The state feels that if they're
gonna pay for the highway, then they should benefit from the tickets, not
the local government. This is the reason we have State Troopers, County
Sheriffs/Police, and Local Police Officers. They like to draw the lines of
tax collecting. If the police started getting commissions on traffic
citations, they'd want commissions on burglaries, muggins (my spell checker
said that's the way it's spelled), robberies, you name it. Think about it.
If they received commissions on tickets, you and I would be getting a whole
lot more tickets. Now don't get me wrong, they do benefit from the number
of citations. It helps when their unions are negotiating raises. And yes,
there are quotas in certain departments. When I was in training, we were
sent out with our ticket books and told that we couldn't return 'til the
books were empty. The corruption is the reason I left that department. I
didn't expect to get rich being a police officer. I thought I could help
some people. I felt that everyone deserved to be safe and when I found out
that in my particular department, there was no helping, I quit.
All police departments are not corrupt, but all of them realize the
benefits of generating revenue. Heck, for some departments it can mean new
bullet resistant vests, for some it means new squad cars, for some it just
means more money, but it helps every department.
It does not (in most cases) benefit the officer directly.
Let me guess, you heard this from a "friend of a friend"?

>From: Reynaldo K Tong <reynaldo@domain.elided>
>Subject: <WOB> Need help with tickets....

<start snip>
You know every time a officer cites you, they get a small percentage of =
commission of that ticket? I never knew....
</end snip>

- - Chip "Badgeless in Chicago" Eberhart

p.s. I'm not perfect, I miss being pulled over, flashin' the badge, and
askin' for a 'professional courtesy'. 

------------------------------