Police, Traffic Court & The Fleecing of The Community

When I lived closer to the city (fuck you I'm not getting specific) I never got a traffic ticket.  I did however get a parking ticket but fuck meter maids.  I was barely ever pulled over for that matter either.  It wasn't until when I moved up north into "the country" that I started getting pulled over left and right.  All times but one, I got a ticket.  I'm not the only one, I see people pulled over almost every day.  I can only assume based on my own experiences that all of them were getting tickets.  Upon bringing my not guilty plea to the courthouse I asked how long it would take to get my appearance notice.  I was told it was the busy season so it would be a while.  Now I assume because it was the beginning of the summer that there is some mixture of correlation and causation.  However, based on my experience, the frequency of pull overs and the general lack of crime in my quiet little town I'm only left with few conclusions.  We either have a bloated police department or, the police have quotas.  Both are equally likely which means no matter what, the local populace is either being taxed to pay for police they don't need or, being robbed blind by an overzealous police force with nothing better to do.

It has been 4 months (yes that long) and finally I had my day in court.  First problem I saw was there was nowhere to park.  Yes, that many people had court that evening that the parking lot and literally the entire side street that court house is on was packed with parked car with people waiting to get into court.  Funny enough, upon turning onto the street the first thing I saw was the cherries and berries of yet another cop car.  Yes, a cop was giving out tickets outside of traffic court.  Kinda reminded me of girl scouts putting cookie stands outside of weed dispensaries.  I parked my car and get in line which at this point was out the door and stretched all the way to the parking lot 75 feet away.  By the time I get to the door, the state court bailiff or cop (whatever they're called don't really fucking care) tells us the courtroom was at capacity and it would be a 45 minute wait.  The line still stretched to the parking lot might I add.  I guess it was easily 200 people scheduled to appear at court.  With the average ticket being probably around $250 which includes a state surcharge of about $92, I wouldn't have been surprised if the state made about $50,000.  All of that from traffic tickets.  We live in a communist controlled states.  One of the highest taxed in the nation and what do we get for it?  Robbed blind by the police and the courts.

Now I bet you're asking (actually I doubt you care but fuck you) what happened in my case?  Well.....

That's right, my case was dismissed.  Four months and and 45 minutes later  just to have the case thrown out.  Now, how did I manage such bullshit?  Well, I happened to wear my Fordham hoodie that day as it was the only clean one I had at the moment.  The judge took notice and asked if I actually went there assuming one wouldn't wear one for the sport teams (which actually are pretty good so it showed how much he fucking knew)  I told him I did and that I went there on the G.I. Bill.  Yes, upon learning I am a veteran he dismissed the case.  He gave me an opening and I took gladly and actually didn't care to hear "Thank you for your service" for once.  Don't hate the player hate the game.  With that said, I was the lucky one.  Everyone else wasn't given an easy way to bullshit their way out paying outrageous fines.  On the local level people are getting robbed blind by their government every day.  I know it seems like something small and petty in the big picture of things but, for most people it's the little shit that irks them the most.  The state and the police would be pleasantly surprised out people's opinion would change if they stopped overly policing them over what can be described as one thing.  PETTY BULLSHIT!!!!!