How St. Louis County, Missouri Profits from Poverty

I agree that Uber makes the problem of identifying sheltered sycophants a thing of the past.

As someone that's lived in STL for the past 3-4 months, I cannot believe how many different police cars there are on my 20 minute commute every single day. On one road (St. Charles Rock Road actually) I drive to work on, I pass at least 3 different jurisdictions that generally has at least 2 cops on it every day. After that road, I get onto the highway and about a few miles down, St.Ann Police Department sets up a speed trap about once a week on I-70. There are of course other cities that set up speed traps, but St.Ann is one of the most obnoxious and common because they are next to the airport and there's a curve that makes it ridiculously easy to catch speeders and there's always speeders near an airport. The entire time St.Louis County police are also within the same overall area also trying to catch people on their way to and from work. Everyone just trying to get their money so their useless department can stay open.

>And when I’m late, I speed.

How the poor are treated in our country is a crime, yes, but if you can't afford a speeding ticket, you can avoid getting a speeding ticket by not speeding. Going faster than the speed limit doesn't really get you there appreciably faster, but it does increase your chances of being in an accident substantially and greatly increases your chances of getting a speeding ticket.

Stealing food to support your family is one thing. That literally means you can eat that night. Speeding is completely avoidable. It doesn't mean a corrupt officer won't still pull you over for something, but it surely would reduce the odds that they would look your way.

How much does it cost to incarcerate people for this long? Does it outweigh the cost of the fines in the first place? If not, why even bother?