Who Is Policing the Police?
This is something I have had on my mind for quite sometime; there seems to be an ever increasing pressence of police. There has been a "DUI" (I'll get into this a little later) checkpoint every weekend for the last month. They are never around when you need them but as soon as you break a trivial law they are there to show their authority.
Tonight on the way home from work, a lady I work with was following me, mostly to make sure she didn't encounter any mechanical problems. So as we turn left onto a four lane road, I take a the far lane, as I always do, and she followed suit. Then the lights came on. A cop pulled her over the lady and lectured her on the moving violation. She just happened to be the car in front of the officer. 2 cars ahead of me did exactly the same thing, and the cop played dumb to everyone's moving violation. Luckily my coworker only got a warning for the "violation".
This happened at 1230 am and there was no opposing traffic. Added to that I have seen cops do this hundreds of times. Granted we all do it, but what makes these cops think they are above the law. They continuely are dicking us over and for what? To annoy us? To remind us of the god awful amount of laws we need to abide by? Or is there another reason?
Im thinking there is another reason. Thursday's Cincinnati Enquierer reported that Hamilton County would be holding a "DUI" checkpoint Friday night. They went on to report that last weekend's "DUI" checkpoint netted 8 arrests for DUI. 6 arrest for driving under suspension. And, 106 citations for seatbelt violation. They stopped 771 vehicles for a soberity check point and only netter 8 person driving under the influence, that is barely 1% of the people stopped. On a Friday night in Cincinnati, I imaging they could have pulled over more drunk drivers if they would have gotten off their fat asses and patrolled rather than having a checkpoint.
This got me thinking, ifonly 1% of the drivers pulled over at a DUI checkpoint were indeed intoxicated, how can they issue citations for other violations at a soberity checkpoint? 106 drivers recieved citations for seatbelt violations. Isnt that illegal? You were stopped to check your soberity, not your god damn seatbelt..
It all comes down to money. A DUI has a max fine of $1000 or 6 months for the first offense, same with driving on a suspended liscense. So, the 14 drivers that either drove drunk or on suspension netted Hamilton County $14000. Added to that, 106 seatbelt violations, which for this rant we are going to lowball the fine at $50. Doing the math, the county made almost $25,000 for 5 hours of work. Now, please tell me where that money goes?
Its is coming down to "1984". Soon we will have cameras in our homes making sure we are'nt doing drugs, flushing cleaners down the drain, or spanking a bad child. We have cameras on the road to catch speeders and those whom run red lights. Where will it end?
Tonight on the way home from work, a lady I work with was following me, mostly to make sure she didn't encounter any mechanical problems. So as we turn left onto a four lane road, I take a the far lane, as I always do, and she followed suit. Then the lights came on. A cop pulled her over the lady and lectured her on the moving violation. She just happened to be the car in front of the officer. 2 cars ahead of me did exactly the same thing, and the cop played dumb to everyone's moving violation. Luckily my coworker only got a warning for the "violation".
This happened at 1230 am and there was no opposing traffic. Added to that I have seen cops do this hundreds of times. Granted we all do it, but what makes these cops think they are above the law. They continuely are dicking us over and for what? To annoy us? To remind us of the god awful amount of laws we need to abide by? Or is there another reason?
Im thinking there is another reason. Thursday's Cincinnati Enquierer reported that Hamilton County would be holding a "DUI" checkpoint Friday night. They went on to report that last weekend's "DUI" checkpoint netted 8 arrests for DUI. 6 arrest for driving under suspension. And, 106 citations for seatbelt violation. They stopped 771 vehicles for a soberity check point and only netter 8 person driving under the influence, that is barely 1% of the people stopped. On a Friday night in Cincinnati, I imaging they could have pulled over more drunk drivers if they would have gotten off their fat asses and patrolled rather than having a checkpoint.
This got me thinking, ifonly 1% of the drivers pulled over at a DUI checkpoint were indeed intoxicated, how can they issue citations for other violations at a soberity checkpoint? 106 drivers recieved citations for seatbelt violations. Isnt that illegal? You were stopped to check your soberity, not your god damn seatbelt..
It all comes down to money. A DUI has a max fine of $1000 or 6 months for the first offense, same with driving on a suspended liscense. So, the 14 drivers that either drove drunk or on suspension netted Hamilton County $14000. Added to that, 106 seatbelt violations, which for this rant we are going to lowball the fine at $50. Doing the math, the county made almost $25,000 for 5 hours of work. Now, please tell me where that money goes?
Its is coming down to "1984". Soon we will have cameras in our homes making sure we are'nt doing drugs, flushing cleaners down the drain, or spanking a bad child. We have cameras on the road to catch speeders and those whom run red lights. Where will it end?