re: Should this be legal for a cop to do?

quote:

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In an article published this month looking at the reliance of traffic fines and forfeitures on small town budgets, Governing magazine found a passel of Louisiana municipalities right at the top nationally. Worried speed traps would hurt tourism Louisiana legislators and officials over the past dozen years have tried new laws.

Number 1 is Georgetown, a village of 500 people on U.S. Hwy. 165 between Alexandria and Monroe. The Governing analysis found that nearly $500,000 – 92 percent of the town’s budget – was raised on the side of the road by its cops.

Fenton is Number 2. Also, on U.S. 165, the town of about 400 is between Interstate 10 and Kinder and its police wrote up more than $1.2 million in fines or about 91 percent of 2017 general fund revenues. (Governing also noted the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s report that a lot of that money never was deposited in the town’s bank account.)

The Governing chart shows Baskin, in Franklin Parish; Henderson, at the foot of the I-10 bridge across the Atchafalaya Basin; and Robeline, in Natchitoches Parish; round out the top five.

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