I work in St. Louis County as a police officer and having worked court many, many times, I can directly attest to how many citizens either fail to appear, and subsequently get a warrant and an instate DL suspension, or come to court just to plead guilty, which you are not even required to do. If you don’t wish to contest, pay or make payment arrangements at anytime before the court date.
Further, the judges have this annoying habit of telling the defendant they can plea guilty with an explanation, which is just an opportunity for a long winded diatribe of “What had happened was...”.
Very few traffic court defendants have any money or say that they don’t. So the judges started telling the officers to detain them until they could make a phone call and arrange for money to be brought up. Brother, you should see the money come in then.
Compound this with having 58 municipalities in one county, some of the having 14 police officers for 600 citizens (like the Beverly Hills PD the story mentions, whose officers make 12 dollars an hour) and you can see how it can get out of control.
Very few traffic court defendants have any money or say that they don’t. So the judges started telling the officers to detain them until they could make a phone call and arrange for money to be brought up. Brother, you should see the money come in then.
The part I particularly noticed was above. It’s just as I figured it. If the person were held, somehow money was found to pay the fine. I agree with that idea. If this had happened in the case the arcle is based on, she would never have gotten a warrant and be in this mess.