philip964 wrote:thenick_ttu wrote:gigag04 wrote:My advice to te officer and the woman, is to pick your battles carefully.
I have some what been supportive of this lady, sticking to her convictions, going to jail in support of the first amendment, etc. However.
On the other hand, making a police officer's job harder is really not in her best interest. Serve and Protect. Today that officer was making a little revenue for the city, which keeps her taxes low, but he was also keeping the traffic from being out of control. Without the police writing a few tickets everyday, traffic would probably go insane. Nobody likes traffic tickets, but it makes us all better drivers, whether we like it or not.
No doubt this same lady, hearing a strange noise at night, will be the first to call 911 to come out and investigate, probably at no time seeing the irony of how she picks her battles.
Ouch, that was a REALLY SORE NERVE that you touched. My personal opinion is that speed traps sole purpose is revenue. As usual, anytime you mess with government revenue, you can be assured to pay the the maximum penalty. To wit: the speeders get a fine and the lady goes to jail. Hardly seems fair.
I'd like to see a show of hands of those for whom the fine for speeding is really a deterrent. I'm raising my hand and I suspect that perhaps 20% of the population who are equally cheapskate motivated will do the same. For most others, speeding tickets are simply the "price of doing business." OK, if you get 20 in a week, that could be a drag but there are a lot of people out there who are speeding, some of them significantly (20+ over the posted limit) who do not appear to dissuaded from the practice of speeding by an occasional fine. I promise you that I don't feel any safer when I drive through a speed trap. In most cases, it isn't a quarter of a mile down the road when the traffic speed is back up to "normal", usually averaging 5-15mph over the signs. So I highly question the value to public safety from speed traps. If equal enforcement were given to tail-gaiting and swerving among lanes, etc. that really cause accidents, I would be much more impressed.
IMHO, traffic is already insane some places. Somehow, the level of enforcement in those areas doesn't measure up to the enforcement in other areas where it is easier to issue citations. I fully realize that the individual LEOs are following the work direction given to them so it is not their option to pick where they patrol. It can only be PD decisions.
....to a point. They both escalated the situation. The question for me is did either of them do anything illegal? 
