Hell, I'd say that any town that leverages against the economically poor to benefit the economically elite is bad, and just going by the way fines are handed out, that happens everywhere. Only a handful of countries fine you by according to how much you make. While doing this can add an extra incentive for the rich to be dishonest (which happens anyway), by not doing it you are essentially telling the rich that they are above the law - which is something that large swaths of ultrarich both already believe and know to be true.
Small towns in much of the country are dependent on punitive fines and fees
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Re: Small towns in much of the country are dependent on punitive fines and fees
#22This is especially annoying because for every dollar they collect, you can end up paying your insurance company 4+ times as much because they now think you're a terrible driver for getting these minor BS citations.
Re: Small towns in much of the country are dependent on punitive fines and fees
#23was a good article in NYT Magazine about this, almost the same kind of piece
"How Cities Make Money by Fining the Poor" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/magazine/cities-fine-poor...
Re: Small towns in much of the country are dependent on punitive fines and fees
#24If they are going to use minor violations of the law as a pretext for revenue collection, they should call it what it is: kleptocracy. If those places are dying out, it's probably best to let them turn into ghost towns because they have succumbed to corruption as a way of life.
I think Kleptocracy would only apply if the folks in charge are funneling funds to themselves. If it is just what funds the government, that isn't a kleptocracy. Bad policy maybe, but not kleptocracy.
Let's call it something else then: road piracy.
Re: Small towns in much of the country are dependent on punitive fines and fees
#25In Georgia you can see the path I-75 and I-16 take through the southern half of the state. 16 is notorious for speed traps and other shadier stuff. Including road blocks on exit ramps with drug dogs waiting to sniff cars. They bait people into getting off at the exits by leaving fake signs about upcoming road blocks. When College kids were moving or getting out of school they’d be out in full force. Sadly my Dad grew…
If you've driven between LA and SF you'll most likely be very aware of Kings County. A notorious speed trap that requires you to be on site to contest their questionable infractions.
If you’re in the “Jefferson” counties of northern California it’s not unusual to have cops waiting at the bottom of an off ramp for those drivers who practice “California rolls” at their stop signs. Locals seem to know better.
Re: Small towns in much of the country are dependent on punitive fines and fees
#26This is nothing more than highway robbery, lock the fuckers up.
Re: Small towns in much of the country are dependent on punitive fines and fees
#27I've always thought society would be better off if fines and money confiscated by police was redistributed as tax relief rather than going to the government or police department doing the confiscation.
As it stands it only encourages abuse.
Re: Small towns in much of the country are dependent on punitive fines and fees
#28There's lots of towns very well-known for being speed traps in my part of the Midwest. My hometown in particular has a police force of approximately 8 full-time officers for a population of 5,000. There's absolutely no good reason to have so many cops for a population of that size, especially when the crime statistics are very low for non-traffic infractions. The only traffic ticket I've gotten in 30+ years was at 12…
The U.S. has 284 police officers per 100,000 people.( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen... ) That would translate to ~14 police officers for a town of your size.
The police force doesn’t need to be spread evenly, especially in areas with little crime.
Re: Small towns in much of the country are dependent on punitive fines and fees
#29Waldo, Fl until the "Waldo Bill".
Re: Small towns in much of the country are dependent on punitive fines and fees
#30I'm genuinely surprised not to see any Rhode Island cities/towns on this. Speed cameras have shown up like a plague in Providence in the past year and are expected to spread throughout the state. https://www.wpri.com/news/providence-speed-cameras-were-a-mo...
This article is talking about fines as a proportion of overall revenue. In the Northeast they can fine the crap out of anything that moves and taxes revenues are still high enough (because there's so much expensive property, high incomes and other taxable stuff combined with decently high tax rates) that the fines are still not a significant percent of revenue.