I heard honest one day... ‘Why are you doing this?!? You work for me!’ said a motorist who was ticked off at getting a ticket for ‘running a red light’ when the signal lasted for all of three seconds, changing too quickly for them to be able to stop.
The cop replied, ‘Hey, buddy, we get half of our funding from fines - I’m just making payroll.’
The standard scam goes on in the court room, where so long as the motorist pays the fine, and goes to traffic school, the ticket won’t count against their record (and the corresponding raise in insurance rates.) Of course, if you /dare/ fight it, you get to pony up the fine, plus the court costs, and the judge makes it pretty clear - if you’re found guilty, the traffic school option is out the window, you get the mark on your driving record, and that can be a very very expensive mark.
And on the day you fight, in file the cops, you can see on the faces of the many who hope their officer doesn’t show up, but as each walks in, you see more faces fall, and the deep thoughts at the ground. Until the last walks in, the one who is infamous for stalking drivers to give tickets, whom most of the people in the room are there for. These are usually the first to stand when the judge asks at the start if anyone has reconsidered the plea and wishes to take advantage of the traffic school option.
Pretty much from there, only two or three are left, and they’re resigned to the impending results.
Yep, watching traffic court one day was an eye opener. Our government no longer works for us, we work for them, and we dance for them to entertain them.
dont forget that occifer finely gets paid extra for every testimony in that court too...
On the day, long ago when a serious traffic violation (one which, frankly, could not be done with my vehicle) ticket came up in court, the officer was NOT present, instead of dismissing, the judge found me guilty and applied a low fine. I appealed, and lost (sort of, fine from the lower court stood, no court costs).
The ordinance was a 'gotcha', with no intent required, a mechanical malfunction could result in the same conviction, solely at the discretion of the officer, who did show up for the appeal and, frankly, lied his arse off.
At least the appeals judge was savvy enough to recognize that.