Quote:
Originally Posted by stew
i know the osp guys out there and i guess i take offense. you guys get caught and you complain and call names. pay the fine and move on. i just don't speed anymore where they can catch me.
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I don't think any of us have a problem with police doing real police work. However, I think most of us have a problem with their newly adopted role of erstwile "revenuers" with a gun, a RADAR or LASER gun, and a mission to fill their jurisdictions' coffers.
The fact is that our lawmakers have have so severely dumbed down their need to prove any of their accusations that most of us have pretty well had enough. All an officer has to do is cite, to accuse, and we are assumed guilty. There is no longer any need whatsoever for the officer to prove a god damn thing. None. The standard of evidence has been reduced to "preponderance", which has a very precise legal meaning - 51% of the available evidence is all it takes for a decision. In Washington and Oregon, that 51% is no more than the officer's word. In addition, we have no right to be tried in front of a jury of our peers. The officer need only "prove" his case to another government employee, the judge, who is also keen to collect revenue. On top of that, we have no right to representation.
In other words, out most fundemental right as an American citizen, when accused by authorities of wrongdoing - the right to due process - is denied us in traffic court. Most of us very strongly resent that. Most cops take full advantage of that, either under departmental edict or to stoke their own egos, or both. They are writing tickets at an uprecedented rate as a result.
This comes at a time when more and more departments are announcing an inability to investigate certain crimes, due to budget and manpower constraints. Typically property crime below some arbitrary value, like $10,000 or something. Those announcements get a little hard to swallow when we see speed traps with multiple officers sitting on their dead asses, clearly just collecting revenue.
And, finally, do these guys ticket one another? Most speed off duty just like the rest of us. A little blue, green, or yellow bear in the lower left corner of the back window says "I'm a cop" or "I'm related to a cop", and all they get is a verbal warning. They are the worst kind of hypocrites, claiming it's all about "public safety" when they cite us, but giving each other - and each others' wives and children - a free pass. They know better concerning this "public safety" ruse, and they know that we know better as well. I don't think anything else has done as much to erode the public's trust in, and respect for, law enforcement officers. They need to realize this. Actually, I think most do. They just don't care - they don't have to. It's just far too easy to go along and keep writing as many tickets as possible; it earns them props in their departments, and satisfies their need to demonstrate their authority. I guess it's easier (and much safer) than going after real criminals. More profitable, too.