Thank you sir. This stop had nothing to do with your safety.
We want a new SWAT truck.
Pinal County, AZ is stopping their speed camera program:
Babeu said speed cameras created dangerous road conditions and offered little financial benefit for the county. He plans to boost traffic enforcement through additional manpower.
Turns out they only made the county $12 grand in 1.25 years. A “paltry” amount according to the Sheriff:
Babeu said most of the total $134,199.43 in fines and fees from the paid citations covered administrative and operational costs, leaving the county with a net profit of $12,391.58 that Babeu dismissed as paltry.
and safety wasn’t improved:
Moreover, Babeu said, total motor-vehicle accidents increased by 16 percent in the same time period, and fatal collisions in the Queen Creek area doubled from three to six.
He plans to replace them with 5 deputies that will generate between 10,400 and 20,800 citations a year. Given a population of just 179, 727, it seems that much of Pinal County will be on a first name basis with the Deputies extracting money from them.
Traffic enforcement is just a means to make a buck to local and state governments. Our safety, the officers safety and the public benefit play second fiddle to government’s insatiable desire to reach in our pockets.
Sheriff Babeu isn’t totally done with automation. He plans to being stoplight cameras to protect his blessed flock.
I really don’t know why we put up with it. I guess the wolves just relying on the sheep hoping it won’t be them.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:28 am
I note that neither you nor the quoted pieces mentioned whether the devices helped or hindered public safety. The “dangerous road conditions” needs some specificity.
I’m also surprised that a techie disdains technological solutions to public problems with blasts like “Traffic enforcement is just a means to make a buck”. It’s almost always a sign of lack of data that accompanies an attack on motives rather an analysis of data. If the devices improve public safety, the motives should be irrelevant. The devices should live or die on the basis of their cost-effectiveness, not on political attitudes.
Give us some useful data to support your claim.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:37 am
Bad reporting. Not uncommon.
There is no public problem with traffic. Most people drive the safe speed for the road, which could be slower or faster than what is posted. Cops will tell you that.
Cops value tickets for their ability to search and arrest afterwards.
Chiefs value tickets for their ability to make money.
Most accidents are caused by a small % of people. Addressing those people firmly when they cause problems would be better and would redirect police resources to tasks other than shaking down the community.
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:43 pm
The chiefs numbers dont add up. 5 Deputies writing 2000-4000 cites a year?! No way. 1000 a year would be a lot. And that number would go down quickly once the locals are on to it.
Speeding is not the most common causal factor in TC’s. Red lights and stop signs are. So there is no reason to expect a speed trap to reduce TC’s.
Writing tickets does not give us the ability to search cars. Pulling people over for VC violations gives us the ability to begin an investigation, which may or may not lead to a search, regradless if a citation gets written or not. Most cops don’t want to write tickets but in these podunk towns they may get pressured to.