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Posted on 08/30/2014 5:55:26 AM PDT by bamahead
WALDO — Five Florida police officers told the Waldo City Council that they’ve been under a quota to write traffic tickets, which is a violation of Florida law.
The Gainesville Sun reports Officer Brandon Roberts told council members on Tuesday night they were required by Chief Mike Szabo to write 12 speeding tickets per 12-hour shift, or face punishment. He offered an electronic presentation and printed emails as evidence.
Roberts said they were speaking up because they no longer have faith in their “chain of command.”
Waldo was ranked as the nation’s third worst speed trap by a national publication in 2012. The Sun reports that documents show about half the city’s $1 million budget comes from an item listed as “police revenue.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wptv.com ...
What a surprise.
Waldo has been speed trap all my life, all locals know this.
"Where's Waldo?"
Waldo...flea market, tattoo shop, gun shop, cops, and whores.
Wow, someone after thirty years has discovered Northeast Florida’s biggest open secret. Before you clowns go back to sleep, Lawtey and Stark operate the same way.
Waldo has been speed trap all my life, all locals know this.
Yep, Everyone who lived within a hundred miles of the place knew that. Personally I lived closer to Melbourne and we had all heard about Waldo.
here :-)
Fire the chief.Prosecute if laws broken.
Reduce the police by one position ,that is elevate the best officer to chief.
Evaluate the need for police and number of officers.
Institute cost controls like rescheduling remaining officers so no overtime,no SWAT training ,etc.
Audit each officer’s ticket to check if tickets were valid.
The goal is to keep from punishing officers who spoke up about bad policing.
People complain about speed tickets yet I see the majority of drivers exceeding the limits everywhere I drive .And I see many crashes with fatalities because of excess speed.
Not one word on as to whether or not they were ARRESTED for Conspiracy to commit GRAND LARCENY, or Conspiracy to Deprive Citizens of their Rights under “color of law”? Or Grand Theft, not to mention using a Firearm during the commission of a FELONY, All 5 and their superiors belong in PRISON for LIFE for THIS ADMISSION OF GUILT.
WUFT News
Alachua County Sheriff’s Office To Supervise Waldo After Ticketing Charges
http://www.wuft.org/news/2014/08/30/alachua-county-sheriffs-office-to-supervise-waldo-after-ticketing-charges/
I have driven thru there a few times. It helps knowing it is a speed trap in advance but I will say, folks follow the damn speed limit there. Fer sure. I suppose it is a tip for wary motorists who don’t know. When you see folks doing EXACTLY the limit you are in a speed trap.
I’m willing to give these five the benefit of the doubt for now.
We need more good cops to speak out against the bad ones without fear of reprisal - let alone charges - or things won’t change.
I’ve driven more than a million miles over the last two decades. I have seen several accidents. Some had fatalities; most didn’t. The only one I remember that was caused by excess speed was a single vehicle spin out in the rain on a curved ramp; the car went into the grass and no one was hurt. Most accidents are caused by drivers that don’t pay attention to what’s going on around them.
Speeding tickets have less to do with safety and more to do with revenue generation.
And stay out of the left lane, please.
12 tickets in 12 hours? Sounds like the cops just don’t want to do anything (except maybe shooting a dog or two).
I grew up in Gainesville and Waldo has always been a speed trap. If it wasn’t, the traffic on US 301 and Waldo Rd would fly through at 65+. I hate to slow down to the speed limit too, but I do respect the town’s level of commitment after 40 years of complaining by tourists.
The fox guarding the hen house.
Lived in Gainesville, then Virginia. Even up here everyone knows about the Waldo speed traps - there are even billboards on 301 north and soutn warning - “Waldo - Speed Traps ahead!” No excuse for getting a ticket there.
Warned my kids many times on their trips to see grandpa and grandma in So. FLA, but some had to leard dad was right the hard way.
Florida got so sick of Waldo cops they jumped on them with laws.
But Walso isn’t the only one - just the worst. Every town on 301 between I-10 and Ocala is a radar trap......but the local logging trucks have a free pass or pay the cops because they ignore the limits......
Got that right
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