Another thing for the public to understand is that money from the tickets we write does not go directly to the police dept. That money goes to the city's (if it is a city cop's ticket) or state's (county sheriff/state trooper's ticket) general revenue fund. Officers salaries come from the department budget, which is paid from the city/state general revenue fund. That means that no matter how few or how many tickets we write, our salary will still be paid. The difference is how the city/state government makes the money to pay us. The money will be generated either way, either through tickets, or through taxes. (which are already high enough) If you would like to do away with ticketing people who break the law, then you should be prepared for a HUGE HUGE tax increase that will affect EVERYONE, not just violators.

 

Tickets are not supposed to be counted on as revenue. If your city is doing so, then that is disgusting.

Cops are supposed to PEACE officers, not ****** ticketing people for income.

 

Do some checking around in your city's annual budget, I would bet that among the various income sources it is in there. It could be listed under court fines, or Police Department as well. It is all added into the general fund, and nearly all cities do indeed "count" on having some income from tickets. If we wrote no tickets, we would be accused of not doing our jobs.

Having a larger general fund does not necessarily mean pay increases for officers either, it would probably just decrease taxes or be thrown into a savings account for the city. I believe in my city under 4% of the city's revenue is generated by tickets. So yes, we are depending on a very small amount of income generated by tickets...but like I said earlier, that money has to come from somewhere.

We don't write tickets for income, we write tickets because you broke the law. I could care less what kind of fine is attached to the ticket. Heck, I don't even know what most of the tickets cost. The fines are set by the courts, not the police dept. If it costs $1, or $1000 I still get my same old (not very large) paycheck at the end of the day.

 

Way to roast that pig !

edit: Generally speaking, I respect peace officers and I know they have a tough job, so when I say PIG, I refer to the ones who DO abuse their authority and are on a power trip. 66 in a 65 ??? Gimme a F*****N break!

 

No, it's the other way around. The PD should be prepared for huge budget cuts and layoffs. The city works to serve the people. It's not the other way around, contrary to popular belief. The police need the taxpayers more than the taxpayers need the police in a free state (free as in, lack of non-sensical laws and regulations commonly found in liberal blue states and in cities like NYC, Los Angeles, etc...) Don't believe me? A local township fired the police chief and disbanded the entire police department for corruption. They then contracted police services to the county sheriff and found they saved a SIGNIFICANT amount of money in the process.

The TWO BIGGEST millages on property taxes are:
1. School/Education
2. Police

It's more important to know who you are voting for than to blindly vote.

To prevent/reduce violent crimes, it should be mandatory for states to get rid of BS (racist due to the history of firearms registration) pistol registrations, get rid of BS permits for CCWs (every state should be like Vermont w/ regards to carrying concealed weapons by law abiding citizens - no permit necessary, just carry), and pass castle doctrine laws like Florida and a dozen other states.

 

City governments need to be reformed and have REAL ACCOUNTABILITY. Relying on ticketing citizens to feed their WASTEFUL SPENDING is wrong.

Why do cops need $40,000 BMW bikes?