I don’t know when this started, but according to one of my car magazines 22 states now have traffic citations as their no. 1 revenue source. Traffic citations are written by “beat-cops.” When Clinton got legislation to underwrite additional beat cops nationwide they were for revenue collection, not crime control. One small city in Florida got so upset about the traffic citations they fired their entire police force and had the sheriff take over.
Anytime a politician tells you he’s adding community enforcement, beat cops or any similar sounding “anti-crime” language, he’s talking about enhancing revenue flows. The city where I live has reduced the yellow light timing on automatic traffic light cameras from 9 seconds to 3 seconds, the legal minimum. They did it because they weren’t making their “revenue projections.” (Nothing about safety, it’s revenue.)
So, Chicago is going to slash the budget on cops dealing with crime. Are they going to slash the budget on cops writing tickets? I doubt it.
Chicago is all about revenues.