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Posted on 12/06/2005 12:30:15 PM PST by paulat
State trooper or panhandler? Drivers fooled By Jennifer Sullivan Seattle Times staff reporter
In the three years since state lawmakers gave cops the go-ahead to pull over people for not wearing seat belts, the State Patrol has become creative about spotting scofflaws.
But one new approach has raised a few eyebrows — while providing results troopers call impressive.
On Saturday, a trooper stood on a street corner in Spanaway, Pierce County, and helped bust 30 people for not wearing their seat belts. The trooper, wearing plain clothes and a cardboard sign around his neck that read "Happy Holidays Buckle Up," was able to keep a close eye on passing traffic from the southeast corner of Highway 7 and 112th Street East. When he spotted someone who wasn't wearing a seat belt, the trooper radioed fellow troopers parked nearby who pulled over the offender.
In four hours, 41 cars were stopped and 30 seat-belt tickets, costing violators $101 per infraction, were handed out, Trooper J.J. Gundermann said. Troopers also made one drug arrest and six outstanding-warrant arrests.
Some motorists, seeing a man on the roadside wearing a sign, offered him money, apparently figuring he was a panhandler, the State Patrol said. The trooper refused the money.
[SNIP]
John Strait, a law professor at Seattle University, said the operation "sounds tacky" but isn't illegal.
"I'm not sure it's great public policy," Strait said. "I don't think there's a legal privacy issue."
University of Washington criminal-law professor John Junker said police have a right to work in an undercover capacity. They also have a right to penalize people for what can be seen in plain view — such as not wearing a seat belt.
Troopers in King County say they are considering using the same tactic.
[SNIP]
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
We're not allowed to choose unsafe anymore. You see, we're all "connected" by insurance and health care costs.
Running people off the road and handing them a bill for not wearing a seatbelt IS the actual crime. Armed robbery, to be sure.
$6,000.00 per day, 8 hrs - 60 citations
$30,000.00 per 5 day week
$120,000.00 per 4-week month
$1,440,000 per year!
Show Me The Money!
Aww, poor local government needs money.
I agree as long as no one pays for any injuries sustained in an auto accident because you were being thrown about or out of the vehicle. If you dont wear your seatbelt, a law in most all states, then you have no claim for damages sustained while breaking the law.
Works for me...
She sure is a sneaky one, that Jennifer!
LOL!!! My bad...sorry, Jennifer...forgot the line break!
WORTHLESS DRUNK AND DRUG ADDICT
TOO SORRY TO WORK, HAD RATHER BEG
PLEASE FEEL SORRY FOR ME GIVE ME YOUR MONEY.
I NEED A HIT ON THE PIPE REALLY BAD
(insert appropriate religious aphorism here)
I wonder how long it would take for the cops to run me off?
This is the reason I no longer respect cops. They have gone from being LEO's (LAW ENFOREMENT OFFICERS) to being REO's (REVENUE ENHANCEMENT OFFICERS).
Recent studies in Manitoba showed that the benefits of wearing seat-belts, especially for the front-seat passenger, are balanced by the increase in injuries to back-seat passengers and driver hip injuries.
Counter-intuitive, I know.
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That and the fact that they extracted $3000 for the relatively small effort put forth by four or five cops.
az, help me out here. Who was it again that suggested (practically required) the states to pass seat belt laws? What administration was that under? Didn't that person give us some other great laws? What's that person doing now? LOL!!
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002667004_panhandle06m.html#poll_1058251
Funny...even though there are 300 more votes...the percentages haven't changed....
Troopers don't "fight crime" as you imagine the local PD does. Their mandate is to make the highways safer and reduce collision deaths.
They believe a large benefit exists to enforcing the seatbelt laws. It is their belief that doing "stings" or "emphasis" patrols like this will increase seatbelt usage and lower highway deaths.
WA has or nearly has the highest seatbelt usage rate in the nation so these emphasis patrols, it could be argued, do not accomplish the above goals.
IT's all about the benjamins
I think I'm the only one here who thinks this is ingenious and somewhat funny.
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