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Posted on 11/9/17 at 7:21 am to Major Dutch Schaefer
Good lord if I would have known I could make 240k as a cop writing speeding tickets I would have gone a different route...
quote:
Last year, taxpayers paid this trooper $240,000, but an undercover surveillance investigation by Raycom Media, backed up by timesheets and traffic citations, shows Thomas may not have legally earned much of that money.
Posted on 11/9/17 at 8:01 am to Beessnax
quote:
Where is Mr. Jeff Landry on this? He needs to launch a statewide review of all law enforcement agencies regarding this practice.
If he really wants to be governor, this would do him a world of good.
Posted on 11/9/17 at 8:10 am to Twenty 49
It isn't LACE that is the root of the problem, but the DA being able to keep all of the pretrial diversion money. The DA's office hires the troopers and don't care about the hours so long as they write enough tickets. This is a profit center for some district attorneys. Some abuse it, some do not.
Posted on 11/9/17 at 8:16 am to The Dudes Rug
quote:
If the DA's office is okay with it, which is who ultimately pays the OT, why should it matter?
Because incentivizing officers to write tickets to pay for their OT is a despicable program.
LA is a fricked up state for many reasons, and this one is way up there.
quote:
The Louisiana Legislative Auditor released a report last Wednesday attempting to document the amount of money small towns collect from motorists. The state legislature initiated the investigation last year citing concern that the speed trap reputation of a number of communities could harm tourism. The legislature ordered the audit to find, "the extent to which speed limits and their enforcement in municipalities are based more on revenue generation rather than public safety."
Many towns failed to cooperate, claiming the relevant records were maintained only on paper and stored in boxes. The auditor complained that even when towns did provide information, he was often unable to square the figures with conflicting data from the state police and judiciary, both of which are supposed to receive information on every ticket issued. Without reliable data, the auditor was unable to report figures about how much money speed traps bring in statewide.
"In the seven instances where data was available from all three sources, the numbers have wide discrepancies," the auditor wrote. "After identifying such discrepancies, we had to conclude that the data is unreliable."
Nonetheless, the report documented how a number of towns like Baskin, Georgetown, Lillie and Robeline made more than 85 percent of their general budget revenue from tickets. At least fifteen localities made more than half their revenue from tickets.
Louisiana has no law prohibiting speed traps, and municipalities are allowed to use "mayor's courts" where the presiding officer in speeding cases also controls the budget that receives the fine revenue. The Ohio legislature is currently considering a ban on mayor's courts.
A year later the legislature decided to do something about it:
quote:
The Louisiana Senate yesterday voted unanimously to adopt one of the nation's toughest bans on traffic ticket quotas. State Senator Joe McPherson (D-Woodworth) pushed this measure to a vote after related legislation to limit the ability of small cities to profit from speed traps died in committee Wednesday.
McPherson's bill would make it illegal for any state agency to have a plan -- even an informal plan -- that evaluates police officers based on the number of arrests made or citations issued. The bill goes on to make it illegal for any political subdivision to "suggest" to a police officer that he is "expected to issue a predetermined number" of tickets.
The proposed law does not contain any of the escape clauses commonly found in ticket quota bans in other states. In Maryland, for example, quotas are banned but police supervisors may use "quantitative data" in evaluating an officer's performance. Such clauses allow quotas to continue in agencies such as the Pennsylvania State Police where averages and proportions achieve the effect of a quota without triggering the law.
Hard to imagine how "one of the nation's toughest bans on ticket quotas" would allow a program like LACE to continue, but corruption knows no boundaries in this state.
Posted on 11/9/17 at 8:17 am to dinosaur
quote:
Some abuse it, some do not.
They all abuse it. They wouldn't hire the officers if it was a losing proposition. The program only exists to make money for the parish.
Posted on 11/9/17 at 8:18 am to slackster
Have to love the small government conservatives on this board.
Posted on 11/9/17 at 8:31 am to Major Dutch Schaefer
Traffic and parking fines have always been a revenue source. And if the citations are legit, it’s a fair and consistent way to fund the police departments.
But this is one of the areas that will get hit hard by self driving/automated cars. Entire professions and industries could shrink drastically and immediately. Traffic fines, traffic courts, auto insurance, auto sales, auto repair (auto everything) parking garages, trauma facilities, physical therapists, etc. If the cars don’t crash or speed and all are ride shares, everything changes.
Back to the point, how does the giant police infrastructure get funds when traffic and parking tickets dry up? That change is coming fast.
But this is one of the areas that will get hit hard by self driving/automated cars. Entire professions and industries could shrink drastically and immediately. Traffic fines, traffic courts, auto insurance, auto sales, auto repair (auto everything) parking garages, trauma facilities, physical therapists, etc. If the cars don’t crash or speed and all are ride shares, everything changes.
Back to the point, how does the giant police infrastructure get funds when traffic and parking tickets dry up? That change is coming fast.
Posted on 11/9/17 at 8:33 am to NIH
quote:
Have to love the small government conservatives on this board
, the program would be slashed if it lost money. It's basically a handshake agreement with the troopers that as long as you write enough tickets to cover your wages, we'll keep paying your overtime. I'm not sure how it can possibly coexist under the state's ticket quota ban, but I'm sure it will be back soon. Posted on 11/9/17 at 8:35 am to slackster
frick those assholes. I? just drove 80 mph on 310 from Kenner to a HWY 90.
Posted on 11/9/17 at 8:37 am to MarcusQuinn
quote:
Back to the point, how does the giant police infrastructure get funds when traffic and parking tickets dry up? That change is coming fast.
Hopefully they'll find the time to police more important matters. They'll be funded with property taxes.
The moment the more officers = more citations = more revenue = more officers model is broken will be a great day for Americans.
Posted on 11/9/17 at 8:37 am to slackster
I agree, but some are worse than others. Also, with the pretrial diversion money, it only goes to the DA, not any sort of parish wide or other local government. I think it is a shame that this program, that had good intentions at the beginning, has become abused. It shows that even law enforcement can be corrupted by easy money.
Posted on 11/9/17 at 8:39 am to dinosaur
quote:
I agree, but some are worse than others.
That's fair.
Posted on 11/9/17 at 9:57 am to slackster
quote:
Because incentivizing officers to write tickets to pay for their OT is a despicable program.
But that wasn't the issue with the suspension of the program. The issue was writing all the tickets prior to the end of the 12 hour shift, then going home. They are idiots though (the Troopers).
Posted on 11/9/17 at 10:11 am to The Dudes Rug
Here's the full story Zurik ran last night on the 10 oclcok news in case not everyone saw it. It's about an 8 min video.
LINK
LINK
Posted on 11/9/17 at 10:17 am to tgrbaitn08
Yet another pat on my own back for GTFO of La.
Hail H-town.
Hail H-town.
Posted on 11/9/17 at 10:33 am to tgrbaitn08
quote:
frick those assholes. I? just drove 80 mph on 310 from Kenner to a HWY 90.
Well since the speed limit went to 70 a few months ago, you didn't do too bad. Prior to the increase, Trooper Thomas would have gotcha by the time you got to 61. He was ALWAYS posted up on that elevated stretch. frick him.
frick the LACE program and double-frick the LSP who abused it.
This post was edited on 11/9/17 at 10:34 am
Posted on 11/9/17 at 11:05 am to Major Dutch Schaefer
quote:
Troop A: Livingston Parish
The trooper parked in his customary spot on La 16 in Port Vincent this morning didn't get the memo or he doesn't know he is in Livingston Parish.
Maybe that area isn't included in this program.
This post was edited on 11/9/17 at 11:09 am
Posted on 11/9/17 at 11:08 am to tgrbaitn08
quote:
frick those assholes. I? just drove 80 mph on 310 from Kenner to a HWY 90.
Ohhh we have us a badass right here.
Posted on 11/9/17 at 11:49 am to Major Dutch Schaefer
The most obvious thing I got from this thread is most people on the OT don't read the articles linked and either only read the title, don't read the quotes from the article or have incredibly poor reading comprehension.
Additionally, they seemed to get pissed of at anyone who points that out to them I expect downvotes.
ETA: This issue is not the tickets being written but the amount of overtime charged. And state police are still out there writing tickets, just not for local DA/sherrif departments in their scheduled off time.
Additionally, they seemed to get pissed of at anyone who points that out to them
I expect downvotes. ETA: This issue is not the tickets being written but the amount of overtime charged. And state police are still out there writing tickets, just not for local DA/sherrif departments in their scheduled off time.
This post was edited on 11/9/17 at 11:52 am
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