Posted on 12/14/2014 7:46:24 AM PST by blam
Tyler Durden
12/13/2014
The undisputed winner in this year's "Worst Idea At The Wrong Time" category is the poor suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, a town which was looted, burned and generally eviscerated on several occasions in the past few months as a result of public anger first at the murder of Mike Brown and subsequently, the acquital of the police officer who shot him.
Why? Because according to Bloomberg, in order to close a municipal budget gap - and keep in mind the prevailing poverty in the region has been widely attributed as one of the reason for the escalating violence on either side of the law - Ferguson plans to boost revenue from public-safety fines and tapping reserves.
According to Ferguson's finance director, Jeffrey Blume, revenue from violations, which already represents the citys second-largest source of cash after sales taxes, are projected to rise to 15.7% of receipts in fiscal 2015, up from 11.8% currently. In 2013, fines brought in $2.2 million, or 11.8 percent of the citys $18.62 million in annual revenue, according to budget documents.
This means that local cops will now have an even bigger, and more aggressive quota of miscellaneous, petty offenses to fill, in order to collect money from an already impoverished population, and in the process antagonize said population even further, more than likely leading to the same if not worse outcomes that caused the riots in the first place.
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(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
The feds will make life in Ferguson impossible for decent, hard-working people.
You & I got different definitions of "petty offenses," partner.
This is why only bullies wear badges. Decent people would not commit petty harassment of their fellow man all day, every day.
Where is the police officer in that picture? The perp walked off with the goods. If the dumbass thief would have just kept to the sidewalk he would have gotten away scot free.
“Murdered?”
The author obviously flunked out of his ESL class...
Creepers!
“Murder?” You have to be convicted to be guilty of murder. Officer Wilson wasn’t even indicted and never will be.
Did you see the security camera video of the bully attacking the store clerk in the post above yours? Where is that bully’s badge? Or, is this a picture of an undercover strongarm ronbbery?
I think they’re talking about the city’s hunger for fine money. Where I live, they write tickets for everything. It gets a little tiring. $50 fine for not using your directional signal at an empty intersection, that kind of thing. Last summer they caught one of the cops stealing the fine money at the town hall. They’ve kept a low profile since, but now they’re out in force for the annual Christmas shake down.
The article is about collecting revenue by fining people for petty offenses. Like speeding tickets. Or selling loosies in NYC. My comment was directed at those who bully people for revenue for the State.
For the record, I believe Officer Wilson is a model policeman, and the incident was the very definition of a good shooting.
If they try that, they’ll die.
There was a trial and he was acquitted? News to me. Plus, author can't spell acquittal.
The police are becoming like men-at-arms going around shaking down the citizenry for the local barons. It just has a medieval feel to it sometimes. I don’t necessarily blame the police.
I agree with what you wrote, but you might not have read the facts of the case. While the cop did tell them to get to the sidewalk, he could clearly see the guy met the detailed BOLO down to the bright yellow socks with marijuana leaves printed on them. The perp was gonna be stopped.
Stupid biased tripe
The feds will make life in Ferguson impossible for decent, hard-working people.I'm pretty sure Ferguson is already there, though no doubt the Feds can make it worse.
The local government isn't helping either.
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