# Why are Suburban Cops So Hungry **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 8, 2018, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808 "2018-05-08T09:35:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/21 "2018-05-08T16:47:54Z")
The worst I’ve seen is the Evergreen Park/Oak Lawn gauntlet down 95th Street between Western Ave. on the east and I-294 on the west. My radar detector picks up anywhere between a half a dozen to a dozen or more different cruisers looking for a reason to write a ticket. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/22 "2018-05-08T17:24:26Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Nitpicking (and the OP made the same typo): > > The name of the town is [Downers Grove](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downers_Grove%2C_Illinois). There’s no apostrophe in it. Even though it was named after a guy named Downer (Pierce, not Debbie) per Wikipedia and probably someone from the historical society, “Its somewhat unusual spelling (“Apostrophe-free since 1873”) remains a minor historical mystery.” That stretch of Ogden\* is the Happy Hunting Ground for DG cops, especially by the McDonald’s. One coworker got ticketed there one Sunday morning and thought it was because she’s black, but the next Sunday another coworker, who is white, got a ticket in the same place. - - [Historical footnote](http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/10702.html): > [@](#): > > William B. Ogden arrived in Chicago in 1835 and for decades provided a crucial link with New York capital. Among the many enterprises of which he was a part: the Illinois and Michigan Canal; Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (the city’s first); the City of Chicago (first mayor); Board of Sewerage; and the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Ogden saw the important connection between rail and water transportation and ran the terminus of the first railroad in Chicago right to the banks of the north branch. He worked to gain for the Chicago Canal and Dock Company (he was a major investor) control of property along the Chicago River and adjacent Lake Michigan, even hiring Abraham Lincoln to help him gain clear title to river and lakefront property. Out here what became Ogden Ave was a series of plank roads, which were roads literally paved with wooden planks. They were laid by individual farmers across their land, and the farmers would charge tolls. It was easier and faster to travel on these because you were on a hard surface, not mud. Ogden hated plank roads because they were the competition (see his CV above). Sometime after Plank Road got paved it was renamed for Ogden, which always amused me because he would’ve hated paved roads more. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/23 "2018-05-08T19:12:39Z")
I just had a nice chicken salad sandwich. Current status: not hungry. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/24 "2018-05-08T20:00:07Z")
I believe the US Post Office didn’t allow apostrophes in addresses. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/25 "2018-05-08T20:46:55Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > So you get used to rolling through stop signs, driving 20 over the limit, and ignoring your burned out tail light for months at a crack. > > Then you travel outside the city and are painfully reminded that they are all illegal and those suburban cops are doing nothing shady, just enforcing the law. Do a little research and you’ll find that traffic patrol does lead to bigger things. And I’d much rather have my municipality funded by violators than have my property taxes go up. > > Why don’t you start a thread titled “why doesn’t Chicago PD do their jobs?” Wasn’t trying to offend you here. I am speaking of the people who by all appearances are driving absolutely perfectly and following every law, they don’t look suspicious or anything. Then they get pulled over. I’ve seen it. On that note, the property tax out in Downers Grove is a bit high for a suburb, plenty of regulation on little things and $50 extra a month per person for trash pickup once a week as well as a few traffic cameras for speeding and red lights. That should be plenty of money for such a relatively small suburb/town, so the argument for taxes shouldn’t apply here. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/26 "2018-05-08T20:56:09Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > The worst I’ve seen is the Evergreen Park/Oak Lawn gauntlet down 95th Street between Western Ave. on the east and I-294 on the west. My radar detector picks up anywhere between a half a dozen to a dozen or more different cruisers looking for a reason to write a ticket. Thanks for the tip! **Crafter\_Man** That is what I’ve heard as well, and the cops I know say the same thing about it being pathetic, and when they do, they give the person a warning and not a ticket. It must be for a revenue in that burb, I just don’t understand because they already make a ton. Thanks for the replies everyone, I appreciate the insight. My biggest source of confusion is that the State Police are pretty strict and NEVER pull people over without an obvious reason and I see them all over Route 83, as soon as the offramp comes to enter Downers Grove, those same people get pulled over almost immediately upon entering. I really think they are suspicious of Chicagoans or that it really is for revenue. It’s irritating. Maybe the reason why they never get me for some crap is because I have a dash cam (obvious when looking from behind) showing my good driving. Who knows… It’s just a matter of time with these sharks and I will fight the hell out of it when it does come. I really do like most police so I am not cop bashing at all, but suburban ones, especially from where I mentioned just make me angry. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/27 "2018-05-08T20:59:59Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Downer’s Grove appears to make a lot of its money from tickets. > > Google ‘Downer’s Grove IL traffic ticket’ and a lot of the results are for attorneys who deal with traffic violations. > > Frankly, I think we need to outlaw this practice at a national level. Like Ferguson where the cops are literally milking their town for violations and crimes to make their fine-reliant budget. Thanks for this, I’m searching now…as if I will find something that says “We do it for the money!” lol but it is fascinating to understand why they do this. Cops that pull people over for mostly imagined offenses are probably not going to get a lot of community support for milking people for small violations. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/28 "2018-05-08T21:23:44Z")
Also, speaking of Ogden Avenue, and speeding traps in suburban Chicago: Lyons (just SE of me) has a similar reputation. The speed limit on Ogden drops down to 25 mph through part of Lyons, and the conventional wisdom has always been that the lower limit was specifically placed there to create a speed trap, and generate revenue via tickets. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/29 "2018-05-08T21:36:29Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Also, speaking of Ogden Avenue, and speeding traps in suburban Chicago: Lyons (just SE of me) has a similar reputation. The speed limit on Ogden drops down to 25 mph through part of Lyons, and the conventional wisdom has always been that the lower limit was specifically placed there to create a speed trap, and generate revenue via tickets. I used to have a friend who lived in Lyons who told me about that once, he lived a block or two away near that Brixies (sp) bar in some apartment complex by salt creek. He told me how he couldn’t stand it and that they were really adamant about pulling people over down there and hated that a cop was sitting in the lot of his apartment a couple times a week. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/30 "2018-05-08T22:27:25Z")
Writing “revenue” tickets does not happen as often as people think. It can cost the officer their job if somebody gets pissed off enough about it. Just not worth it. Many moons ago, when I was a deputy sheriff, I would write the occasional traffic ticket. The standard snark that I would get was something along the lines of how I was gonna hit my quota this week. My standard response was, “Oh, they did away with quotas a long time ago. Now we can write as many tickets as we want.” ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/31 "2018-05-09T00:54:51Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > Wasn’t trying to offend you here. I am speaking of the people who by all appearances are driving absolutely perfectly and following every law, they don’t look suspicious or anything. Then they get pulled over. I’ve seen it. :rolleyes: While there are some cops who would use a dubious pretext to conduct a traffic stop, the vast majority won’t; therefore, I think there’s something the driver did wrong that precipitated them being pulled over, even if it’s expired tags, which the cop would know but you wouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/32 "2018-05-09T01:40:04Z")
The times I’ve been pulled over here (NJ) are, so far as I can tell, due to a cop randomly running plates. I’ve never had a moving violation or a fix-it ticket. I’ve had registration dings (my fault) and once, failure to have my insurance card (the officer wouldn’t accept my electronic GEICO card – he should have, it’s been legal here since 2015). Registration here isn’t visible, as it’s a card and not tags on plates. Randomly running my plates is the only explanation I have for being stopped as frequently as I am because they can’t know if the car is registered or not until they run it. I’ve also wondered if driving my BMWs and having vanity plates have anything to do with getting pulled over so frequently. A vanity plate is easier to remember than regular plates and might be an easy target? Our township cops make a bundle pulling over college students on my street (we’re near a campus). It’s rare that I don’t see a car pulled over at least once a day. I wholeheartedly approve of this, as there are a lot of kids roaring down the road at 65mph in a 45mph zone, running lights, and being butthol ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/33 "2018-05-09T01:48:06Z")
[quote=“Jennshark, post:32, topic:813808”] The times I’ve been pulled over here (NJ) are, so far as I can tell, due to a cop randomly running plates. I’ve never had a moving violation or a fix-it ticket. I’ve had registration dings (my fault) and once, failure to have my insurance card (the officer wouldn’t accept my electronic GEICO card – he should have, it’s been legal here since 2015). Registration here isn’t visible, as it’s a card and not tags on plates. Randomly running my plates is the only explanation I have for being stopped as frequently as I am because they can’t know if the car is registered or not until they run it. I’ve also wondered if driving my BMWs and having vanity plates have anything to do with getting pulled over so frequently.\* maybe a vanity plate is easier to remember than regular plates and might be an easy target? Our township cops make a bundle pulling over college students on my street (we’re near a campus). It’s rare that I don’t see a car pulled over at least once a day. I wholeheartedly approve of this, as there are a lot of kids roaring down the road at 65mph in a 45mph zone, running lights, and in general being buttholes. \*I don’t have jerky plates (IMHO). I have the chassis number (E39 for the '02, E46 for the '04, and F25 for the X3). Bimmer enthusiasts can instantly identify the age and model of the car. It’s gibberish to normal people. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/34 "2018-05-09T02:08:56Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > Registration here isn’t visible, as it’s a card and not tags on plates. In Illinois, where the OP lives and noted his issue, the expiration date on license plates is visible, as it’s on [a sticker which you place on your rear plate when you renew it.](http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/Illinois5/il2018may.jpg) However, it’d be very difficult (if not impossible) to read the date on a plate’s sticker from any sort of distance – the sticker color is different for each calendar year, but the numbering on the sticker is just too small to read unless you’re close to the car (e.g., sitting behind it at a stoplight). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/35 "2018-05-09T02:18:01Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Downer’s Grove appears to make a lot of its money from tickets. > > Google ‘Downer’s Grove IL traffic ticket’ and a lot of the results are for attorneys who deal with traffic violations. That’s a normal Google result now that Page and Brin have decided to make it completely useless for anything but making them money. I’m looking for a better search engine. I like crappy weather because it makes cops get out of their nice, warm cars. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/36 "2018-05-09T02:32:47Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > The answer you gave in your OP is absolutely right. There tends to be more crime in cities, so cops in high crime areas typically focus on eradicating violence or things that lead to violence. Suburban areas are already less violent, so cops in those areas have the bandwidth to focus on minor traffic infractions. Seconded. There are a few places where it becomes a form of local revenue (one area near me has been known to write tickets for 31 in a 30mph zone) but those are really very rare and unusual in my experience. More often its a combination of boredom and looking out for the safety of the locals; lets face it, even a minor infraction is still an infraction. ---
**Author:** ![Rudiger\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rudiger\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rudiger_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/37 "2018-05-09T18:11:00Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > Thanks for the replies everyone, I appreciate the insight. My biggest source of confusion is that the State Police are pretty strict and NEVER pull people over without an obvious reason and I see them all over Route 83, as soon as the offramp comes to enter Downers Grove, those same people get pulled over almost immediately upon entering. This is counter to my experience. I don’t ever recall seeing State Police cars on IL 83, but plenty of Westmont, Clarendon Hills, and Oak Brook cars, often with someone pulled over. Clarendon Hills seems to have the most stops, in my experience, especially on 55th Street. Though I see a LOT of cops in DG, it seems like they rarely have anyone stopped. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/38 "2018-05-09T18:29:00Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Hell, I have the opposite question; why does any traffic cop NOT have someone pulled over? Watching the way people drive I honestly don’t understand why cops do not have someone pulled over throughout their entire shift. I see 50 significant violations of the law every time I make my 25 minute commute. This!! As **pkbites** can attest, the driving in Milwaukee is HORRIBLE!! If you had 100 cop cars patrolling Fond Du Lac avenue, they would all have someone pulled over in 30 seconds. The trouble is that hardly anybody would pay the fines, which I suspect is why they don’t bother pulling people over. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/39 "2018-05-09T18:29:55Z")
> [@Rudiger\_Simpson](#): > > This is counter to my experience. I don’t ever recall seeing State Police cars on IL 83, but plenty of Westmont, Clarendon Hills, and Oak Brook cars, often with someone pulled over. Clarendon Hills seems to have the most stops, in my experience, especially on 55th Street. Though I see a LOT of cops in DG, it seems like they rarely have anyone stopped. State Police usually sitting along the sides off of the highway, they’re there. Oak Brook Usually getting people southbound crossing 22nd. Pretty sneaky but if you look they are there, except that stretch of 83-Kingery Hwy. I think it’s because those concrete dividers would stop them from getting in on that long stretch, who knows. Westmont definitely has people pulled over all the time, I’ve seen that too. Not sure about Clarendon Hills but I don’t doubt it. I’m not so much peeved by it (I drive legal, safe etc.) as I am curious about the volume of people they seem to nab. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808/40 "2018-05-09T18:38:46Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > Thanks for this, I’m searching now…as if I will find something that says “We do it for the money!” lol but it is fascinating to understand why they do this. > > Cops that pull people over for mostly imagined offenses are probably not going to get a lot of community support for milking people for small violations. Thanks for showing your ignorance so that I can educate you. > **[Limit cities’ reliance on revenue from traffic fines](https://www.denverpost.com/2015/05/15/limit-cities-reliance-on-revenue-from-traffic-fines/)** > > Limit cities’ reliance on revenue from traffic fines > **[A Handful of Colorado Towns Rely Heavily on Money from Traffic Tickets](https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/news/a-handful-of-colorado-towns-rely-heavily-on-money-from-traffic-tickets/)** > > As Colorado's largest statewide, member-supported, multi-media network, Rocky Mountain PBS wants to make sure everyone is seen and heard. > **[The Town That Lived Off Speeding Tickets](https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/the-town-that-lived-off-speeding-tickets)** > > Randolph, Mo., is a tiny town with a common problem: money is tight.To keep afloat, the Kansas City outpost apparently did what many little towns on big highways do. It came to rely on passing motorists filling its municipal coffers one traffic... > **[Traffic Tickets Are Big Business - National Motorists Association](https://ww2.motorists.org/blog/traffic-tickets-are-big-business/)** > > Traffic tickets are a multi-billion industry. They have virtually nothing to do with highway safety, but they have everything to do with money. When you begin to grasp the full magnitude of the public and private interests that depend on ripping off... [https://www.parkingpanda.com/blog/post/top-10-cities-with-highest-revenues-from-parking-violations](https://www.parkingpanda.com/blog/post/top-10-cities-with-highest-revenues-from-parking-violations) It’s unfortunate you chose to mock this with a quip about doing a search but were unable to find what took me 5 seconds. Your google-fu is weak. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-suburban-cops-so-hungry/813808.md?page=3)