Highway Patrolman Goes On Ticket Rampage on West Palmetto Street
Now, i don't want to look like I'm ragging on our local law enforcement... After all, I was the guy who created the Kenney Boone - Chuck Norris blog posts. But, every once in a while, we see a guy in a uniform go a bit overboard with the ticket writing. Yesterday was one of those times....
From my new desk, I can see everythign happening on West Palmetto St. in Florence. On Monday between 12PM and 5PM, I saw the same SCHP guy ticket no less than five people for driving without a seat belt in the parking lot of the dealership. Two of them were employees here.
Now, this was just from the 200 foot area I could see from the driveway. How mnay other people got pulled ove rand ticketed that day? Yes, he can hand out these tickets, and no, you don't need cause to stop someone for no seatbelt anymore. But DAMN, that's a lot of pulling over...
I doubt that the ticket mania was done to raise cash for a strapped state agency. More likely, the SCHP decided that more people need to be buckled in, so they went and scared the crap out of everyone on Florence's west side. It worked, at least for today. I rarely wear my belt, but I had it on today - and I was in freakin' Charlotte !!!
Hopefully, Buttercup and Pee Pee didn't get cited..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYeQnhfy1Bs
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6 comments:
Hey...don't know the HP. They got this despression on and I can use the extra ticketing.
the hell with going after parents that don't have their kids strapped in right, or the people doing 65 down Palmetto Street....you ain't got your seat belt on boy!
From what I understand, the fines collected go entirely to the magistrate and the state, with nothing for the SCHP budget.
Sometimes that's a good thing, someimes in special enforcement issues, where their SIT groups have to work problem areas, such as work zones, and they never have enough manpower, I wish they could retain some of the revenues.
Court costs and assessments are sent in to the state, of which a percentage is supposed to make its way back to law enforcement to meet statutory requirements such as purchasing the video equipment required to film DUIs and other statutory obligations.
Mike you need to wear your seat belt all the time and if you do not you deserve a ticket.
The legislature did a long dance around making seat belts a primary enforcement issue, maybe associated with an unfunded mandate (read the stick, not the carrot, in stimulus packages).
Like the wrasslin over the motor cycle helmet law and life jackets on watercraft, perhaps adults ought to have the right to become an organ donor early, BUT the kids not being properly restrained, IMHO, does deserve to be a primary enforcement issue, perhaps with a referral to family court for child endangerment. I'll grant some of that becomes only as good as the bottom level of the system, but eth kids deserve better.
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