Posted on 03/09/2008 6:07:22 AM PDT by Mr. Brightside
Caught speeding on camera, police officers refuse to pay tickets
16 hours ago
ROCKVILLE, Md. — No matter what the cameras say, some drivers are refusing to pay dozens of $40 speeding fines.
Who? Police officers.
In the last eight months of 2007, Montgomery County's new speed cameras recorded 224 cases in which police vehicles were recorded travelling more than 15 kilometres an hour over the speed limit, according to department records.
Supervisors dismissed 76 of those citations after determining the officers were responding to calls or had valid reasons to break the speed limit.
But that left 148 who didn't have that excuse, and about two-thirds of those citations haven't been paid, said police Lt. Paul Starks.
The police union says officers shouldn't pay because the citations are issued to the owner of a vehicle, in this case the county, and not to the driver.
Police Chief Thomas Manger doesn't buy that argument.
"We are not above the law," Manger said. "It is imperative that the police department hold itself to the same standards that we're holding the public to."
Manger said officers who continue to ignore citations might be disciplined.
If I got a ticket while driving my mother’s SUV, I would hardly expect her to pay the fine.
IMO, the police department should simply dock each cop’s pay by the dollar amount of camera ticket fines he received during the pay period.
I routinely see Montgomery County (MD) cops doing 80 or so on I-270 without their lights on.
For about half a century, I have been suspect of the LOGIC involved with statements such as “speed kills”. Inappropriate speed, uneducated, or inexperienced speed, speed in excess of what might be called sane for the conditions, all might kill but only if their is an accident.
And, speaking of accidents, that is another subject I take issue with. There is no such thing as an accident. That word accident might refer to intentions of those involved in vehicle mayhem, but it surely does not refer to the reasons.
Oh I could go on but highway mayhem is a subject for another day. Needless to say, 50,000 deaths a year is far far far in excess of what should be.
The bottom line is that speeding, among other things, reduces reaction time. My wife was a victim of a speeding motorist.
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