My wife went to the courthouse today and paid a $58 ticket for having a headlight out coming back from a Wednesday night church dinner (really).
Now, we live in South Florida. Four miles to our east, more drugs are being offered for sale than can ever be imagined.
Oh, and I should point out that, once informed of the defect, we went to the local police station and had it verified that her headlight was now operational. That got us a $20 discount. Normally it is a $78 fine.
Again, South Florida, murder, rape, drug selling, DUIs, crazy homeless people, shoplifting, and general criminal craziness. A law-abiding, tax paying (and what large property taxes they are), voting, church-going, honest citizen of the community has to pay $58 for a violation that a normal person won’t notice until the fucking stick up his ass Johnny Law detects with his legal eye after exiting a Dunkin Donuts parking lot (again, really).
Fuck the police, and all the courts…the same way they fucked US!!!—Tupac…
I pit the police for looking for revenue instead of going after the real crime in the ghetto right down the street…
Normally, I wouldn’t agree with this type of rant. But recently, in this post, Loach told me that my wife should be SO grateful to a cop for not writing her a more serious ticket, she should cheerfully pay a $150 fine for an offense she was clearly innocent of. I kind of see his side, in a way, but still, I can’t understand the attitude that people should have to pay for things they didn’t do. I don’t know if Loach’s views are representative of all police, but that sure sounds like revenue generation to me.
But…the real crime in the ghetto didn’t drive right past them with a neon sign, “LOOKA ME! I’M VIOLATING SOMETHING! WRITE A TICKET, QUICK!” The real crime in the ghetto was in the ghetto, and would have required things like an investigation, or a Crimestopper tip, and then a raid, and then a chain of evidence that would stand up in court. Your wife very kindly saved them the trouble of having to do all that. Isn’t she a nice lady?
You can hardly blame them for snapping up the easy-out as it drove by. When a baby walks past you with a sign saying, “Take this candy from me–please!”, you wouldn’t expect to not lift that lollipop, wouldja?
You’re not rebutting. You’re offering the same tattered, shopworn whine that every sumbitch who gets a ticket trots out: there’s someone somewhere close by cooking meth, kicking puppies, raping grannies, ogling kiddies, yadda yadda yadda.
Guess what, fuckwit? If Johnny Law sees a tweaker, or a granny poker, or any other violation on his watch, he’s gonna cite them, too. You just happened to be the low hanging fruit.
The drug dealer can point to the fact that he isn’t forcing someone to buy his wares, and the puppy kicker can point to Michael Vick, and everyone can find someone a little bit worse than they, given sufficient time and effort. Shut the fuck up, fix the headlight, and pay the ticket, or fix the light, pay the ticket, and shut the fuck up. Your choice.
BTW: Laws and statutes are enforced. Crimes are prosecuted.
And you know, my wife always told me that I was a dickhead for my attitudes towards the police, until she ponied up the $58 today. She told me I was right all along…Maybe I will get some nookie tonight.
And, no offense, to Loach, but he is brainwashed with the typical cop bullshit that they pound into them. Of course you should be grateful, according to him. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and a stupid citizen who wants to assert any kind of constitutional right is just “asking” for trouble…
Again, not Loach’s fault…the current system is at fault…
Of course the real crime in the ghetto didn’t drive past them. This asshole cop wasn’t in the ghetto. He was in the middle class part of town lurking for someone committing a minor traffic violation.
He could have been sitting in the ghetto at the known drug deal spots, looking for known drug dealers. But there is no revenue for the city coffers there. And the poor cop might get shot at!!! (gasps)
No, he posts himself at places where middle class citizens do middle class things. And he knows that these citizens pay their traffic fines that pay his salary.
Some drug dealer in the projects goes to jail and pays nothing, not contributing to the local PD salaries…
Sweet fucking strawman argument. I simply said that there are more serious crimes that a limited PD should be after, and that means I will give a libertarian rant…
And now racist! I live with blacks, and other groups…I said middle class…not white people!
So if I’m driving around at night, and don’t see you because you don’t have your headlights on, it’s not a crime, even if I have an accident because I didn’t see you?
You lost me at churchgoing. Do the non-churchgoing get to share your sense of injustice, or is it meant to exclude them?
Can a South Florida traffic cop reassign him/her self at will to combat non-traffic crime?
Or should they perform only some sort of nonpunitive service, perhaps positioning themselves at intersections to hold up traffic so that the law-abiding, tax paying, voting, church-going, honest citizens can get where they’re going faster? Like perhaps to a Pep Boys for a new light?
