[MplsSteve]

I saw this on the news earlier tonight. On a side note, I have no idea why I was watching WDFL...I mean, WCCO-TV.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I am a resident of Minneapolis and there are a lot of speeders and reckless drivers - and that's in the good areas of town. A lot of drivers don't signal lane changes or turns either.

OTOH, I think the police have got bigger issues to deal with in this town. If you've been in downtown Mpls or anywhere near the North Side, you know exactly what I mean.

Comments or opinions - anyone?

[MplsSteve]

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[digitalbrownshirt]

On the one hand it’s disturbing that the police consider the citizens as their emergency piggy bank, but on the other hand it should slow down the reckless drivers. As long as they’re actually targeting violators instead of inventing violations then I don’t have a problem with it. We have a couple of local areas where violation isn’t necessary to receive a ticket.

[lesser_satan]

Agree 100%. We have one of the highest murder rates in the country, and police assets could be put to better use.

[mplsconservative]

My question is: How the heck are they 6 million dollars over budget?

I’m sure the boy wonder mayor gave them a more than adequate budget to work with in the first place./extreme sarcasm

(Guess I answered my own question.)

[Daffynition]

They are just taking a cue from Virginia, New Jersey, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas ... states using an essentially regressive tax to fill their coffers.

[dennisw]

At morning roll call:

OK boys! Heads up! Start writing more tickets or it’s your job!
And make sure you ticket only white people because they are the only ones who actually pay them. Unlike Jose the illegal alien and the colored fellas in their hoopties blasting 100 decibel rap music

[dgallo51]

I am not the ideal person to comment, as I do like performance cars, I do recognize the need to slow down and pay attention as conditions warrant. That said, I believe there will be unintended consequences to stricter traffic enforcement…and not all bad. Nefarious types like to motor like nobody else, and they tend to break more motor vehicle laws than your average soccer mom. While diverting patrols from high crime areas, they may in fact do more to cleaning up the streets and a thousand foot patrols. That said, I’m staying out of MPLS except for dire emergencies:-)

[unixfox]

So...lemme get this straight, they need money so they start handing out more traffic tickets. But then on the other hand they say it's for "safety" reasons.

Where have we heard that crap before? Hmmm...let's see, could it be the evil smokers?

[newguy357]

I have long thought that it is a conflict of interest and strongly counter to the intentions of the founding fathers in their attempts at separation of powers for police departments to be funded in any way by fines which police officers themselves distribute. If police officers ought to be issuing fines, those fines ought to be paid to some other part of community/government so that there is no incentive for officers to increase the number of fines solely for their own benefit.