Rokko

iTrader: (2)

I haven't seen a cop for over two weeks on the way to work. Lo and behold the last two days I've seen an average of 6 on the way into work and just about that number on the way home.

everybody can say what they want. but you watch the last week of the month and there are people pulled over getting tickets at an astronimical rate compared to the 28 or so days leading up to that.

that is all, rant over.

1BAD95Z

I agree...Ellis and I were just talking about that about half an hour ago..His secretary at work got a ticket yesterday on Main St. in Monroe for doing 37 in a 25...The cops are out in force so be careful out there people.

Rockin C Racing

iTrader: (3)

I noticed this today as well. Also down here today is the first day of spring break for Washington.

vtec this

Dude, no kidding. Yesterday on my way home from work, I saw 3 cops with people pulled over. I was like, geez I better be careful.

1BAD95Z

Last week I was heading west on HWY 2 and had a cop coming at me do a U turn right in front of me and almost lost it..I was cracking up...

When he flipped around, he hit the dirt on the side of the highway and his car got all squirrely...doing unplanned fishtails.. I bet he was embarrassed...but he still pulled over the car he was after...

VIKING

I was wondering if that phone call I made worked.

howierd42

I wonder if you can give the police a ticket for wreckless driving.

godswil

yea same here in Graham, havnt seen a cop in forever but today one cop waiting in a hot spot ALL day, ive seen her pull atleast 5 or so cars over with just my normal day activitys

zrater

Ya Up In Minnesota , There Sitting All Over F--k. I Just Bought A Escort
Radar Detector, This Thing Kicks ***, But I Still Dont Speed I Just Like
To No Were The F--k They Are. Used It On The Drive To Spring Break In The
Gulf This Thing Picks Up The Coppers 2 Miles Away. Just Watch The Laser..
BY THE WAY, WE JUST GO TO THE BACK BACK ROADS OF WISCONNI AND RAISE HELL
THEN MOVE TO A DIFF SPOT. .................

Tylerb59

Saw a Crown Vic this morning on I5 out of Marysville with a trailer carrying a police motorcycle with someone pulled over!

That sucks.

Rottluver

iTrader: (3)

DING DING DING!!!!!! THAT is the answer right there folks.

Federal laws prohibit quotas, PERIOD. What happens is Depts get complaints for certain areas and eventually have to appease the people calling (especially when it is the friend/relative or the actual person who is in local Govt ) and they get sent out to write a ton of tickets to chill things out. My old Dept also would have some paper-pusher compile accident stats every 2-4 weeks and then send motor units (traffic-only cops) out to the areas with the worst accident rates and have them focus on whatever the highest cause of accidents in that area was (speeding, red light violations, etc). You also get some newly promoted boss (Captain, Lt, etc) who wants to flex his authority and demands guys show more for their time out there......which means we write tix to avoid getting yelled at for "doing nothing" all shift. rolls downhill so when the Capt tells the Lt to do something, he tells the Sgts and they ride the patrol guys asses till they are out there making life miserable for the rest of us.

Now here, with the different (then So Cal) weather, you will prolly see it a lot more when the weather turns nice. Everyone will be breaking out their shorts, popping the T-Tops or verts and hauling *** cuz the nice weather and the change will make people stupid.

I saw a buncha ricers on 148th yesterday hauling *** left & right while I was walking my mutt, almost like they were playing bumper tag. Made ME wanna call and bitch to someone.

You will see (notice) it a lot more in smaller areas then you will in large Cities because politics plays a bigger role in small towns and it is much more apparent when there are a buncha cops writing tix in places that are under 100k population. That combined with the start of Spring Break is gonna make for a lot more cops out in general anyway and the amount of tix written/cops seen pulling people over will be much higher.

This Public Service Announcement is brought to you by me.

1BAD95Z

So wouldn't that be a Quota they have to fill? They might not be able to call it a Quota by Law, but it's still the same thing...

I think they need to focus their time on finding Murderers and Rapists rather than sitting there waiting for a speeder to come by...but then how would they make their money?

Rottluver

iTrader: (3)

Isn't a quota something that requires a certain number of things be done or accomplished by a certain date? There are not any "numbers" put on those orders to enforce traffic laws.....just, "We got a crapload of complaints about XXX problem in this area, go deal with it." And the amount of $$ returned to the Agency that writes the ticket is laughable (usually under 15%) and not allowed to be used in budget considerations so there can be no "write more tickets so we can make more money" stuff going on. BTW 15% of a $65 dollar ticket isn't exactly gonna pay off the mortgage.

And there are guys out there looking for murderers, rapists, etc, but there are also lots of guys out there who are ASSIGNED to the traffic division...which means their primary focus is writing tickets and dealing with accidents. For example, the California Highway Patrol is STRICTLY a traffic enforcement agency. There entire purpose is writing tickets, arresting DUI drivers and cleaning up accidents. Now, I am just guessing but I doubt Monroe (just using it since it is a smaller town that you are familiar with) isn't the rape/murder capital of WA. So those guys have to do something all day.....you spend some time doing proactive stuff (looking for crimes/crooks/etc) and some time answering calls and some time listening to people bitch about all the speeders in a certain area and some time pulling people over and writing tickets. Just like any other job, you divide and prioritize things that you have to do and spend a certain amount of your day doing each.

I am not disagreeing that there are probably more cops out this week/end and that you may see more people stopped or getting tickets but I can guaran-damn-tee you that there will not be ANY orders/suggestions/etc of how many tickets to write or anyone getting in trouble for not writing X amount of tickets.

TwoFast4Lv

iTrader: (8)

Well IF I remember my last talk with and officer friend...

He is required to make "X" amount of "Contacts" a Day. He is also pressured for a certain Percentage of those to have a return on the time invested

SO. say he is required to make Ten "Contacts" and his Lt wants 80% return on time invested. So he writes 8 tickets. The Smallest ticket is $101 now correct? So here we have one officer who brought in $808 If that is only 15% of what he makes I want that damn job!

Do not get me worng with out them it would be a large *** mess. Then again I am getting pretty damn tired of tree hugging Carpet munchers deciding what everyone else does because they have no freaking clue!

Seat Belt Tickets come DIRECTLY to mind! I wear one all the time. Always have. BUT how freaking stupid is it to make it a law just for the purpose of making money?

Rottluver

iTrader: (3)

But a "contact" can also be a pedestrian stop, looking into drug houses, taking a theft report, etc. And the math on that is 15% of $808 ($120) And that money goes to paying salary, equipment, utilities on the station, gas, etc. So of his 8 contatcs the Dept MIGHT get $120 and will have paid him upwards of $20-25/hour, paid for his training (close to $50k when all is said and done), the car and equipment he is using ($30k for the car alone), etc etc. It isn't like the money goes into a big pot and they have a huge rager with kegs or anything.
And yes, the bosses tell the peons to have something to show for their time. If I work a 10 hour shift, have no reports to turn in, no pedestrian contact cards, no tickets, no arrests, etc I am gonna get seriously looked at as a guy who doesn't do his job. Part of that job includes writing tickets. And as I said before, in smaller Cities, towns, etc, you will see more tickets written as there is less volume and less serious crime commited there. I have a good friend who works for Seattle PD and not unlike when I was working, he MAYBE writes 5 tickets a MONTH. Bigger City, more **** to do, less concern by the patrol guys and patrol bosses about tickets.

Rottluver

iTrader: (3)

Sometimes the Govt feels the need to remind us to be smarter then the rock on the side of the road I guess.........I don't personally care if someone is or isn't wearing one other then if you have kids it sets a really bad example for them and 9 times out of 10 (same with helmet laws) the taxpayer eats the medical costs of idiots not bright enough to realize that travelling at 60 MPH in a 4000 pound machine is a recipie for disaster if there is an accident and no one was smart enough to use the readily available safety devices. FWIW, I started wearing my seatbelt after a car accident busted my arm cuz I got it pushed thru the dash when I was 16 and some tool t-boned my car. ALWAYS wore a helmet no matter what....and both of those were years before there were any laws about it.

I personally only wrote them if the person had a big attitude or if there were young kids in the car. My pet peeve was not using a child safety seat. Nothing more annoying then seeing 2-3 30 pound projectiles walking all over the car at 50 MPH.

In Cali the seatbelt ticket is $27.......not exactly a hige windfall there with the maybe 15% of that.

TwoFast4Lv

iTrader: (8)

Like I said with out them it would be a mess. The SMALLEST ticket in in Washington is $101 correct? Being a State tropper he does not bust many drug houses

last time I spoke with him he average ticket for the day was over $200

Rottluver

iTrader: (3)

To be honest I haven't the foggiest idea what the fines are up here.......and hopefully I won't ever find out.

He is WSP? Aren't they primarily a traffic enforcement agency as well like the CHP??

And even at $200, the MAX the Agency would eventually see is $30.......there is one hour of salary and benefits for one patrolman.

krazzycowgirl

I got a ticket yesterday after putting my Metro in to a ditch, Cop said I was going to fast to advoid the collision (ok what collision??? I put the car in the ditch) Heck I was slowing down from 45 (which is like 5 miles under the speed limit for the road I was on) & after looking at the one tire & after working how things went. Dan & I figured that I lost the back drivers side tire which caused the car to start to spin & I over corrected & landed in the ditch.

WE are fighting my ticket.

Then about 20 mins after that They stopped someone because they didnt have mud flaps on his truck. accourding to the guy I was talking to they took out a tape measure & Measured the higth of his truck. Same cops that gave me the ticket..

senicalj4579

iTrader: (41)

its definatly true. thats why i usually take it a little easier and be more cautious when i'm driving