Today's Chuck Norris Fact:
Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.
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I've seen a lot of cops out recently. I've also seen some photo enforcement vans. It's obvious that all Colorado law enforcement agencies are under some pressure to either crack down on traffic violations, or bring in more revenue. I have a few thoughts on this, as you might imagine.
First, I find this to be a colossal waste of taxpayer resources, for very little return. The ridiculously-high priority of traffic enforcement among state, county, and local governments and law enforcement agencies nationwide demonstrates a remarkable misunderstanding of what law enforcement is actually supposed to be about. To demonstrate this, what is your idea of what a police officer is supposed to do? Is his primary job to write tickets? Do you feel safer because he seems to spend a lot of time writing tickets? Does the press report on the number of traffic tickets written? Can you see where I'm leading?
Heidi has mentioned that her father, a retired Colorado State Patrolman, admitted to thoroughly enjoying writing tickets. I would imagine this attitude prevails among a substantial percentage of law enforcement officers...and they wonder why most decent citizens don't like them much, and get extremely nervous when they see police. Let's go back to those questions I asked above and I'll provide my answers to them. My idea of what a police officer is supposed to do is stop crime. Police are supposed to make people feel safer. Is his or her primary job to write tickets? I would say no, but most of them would probably say yes. I say this because their departments make this so. Any police officer in uniform, in a marked car (and increasingly in unmarked ones), in a little meter-maid electric car, and in a photo enforcement van, has one primary function: catch YOU doing things wrong, and do so as much as possible. They're looking for excuses to give you tickets. I don't feel safer because police send a lot of time writing tickets. And of course, the press would never report on ticket numbers; they, like you and I, understand that writing tickets is not supposed to be a cop's primary function, and deep down, they understand that ticket writing is one of the most useless things the police do. Again, police want people to like and support their work, but it's difficult for honest, decent citizens to respect the people who only write tickets and are almost never available to prevent serious crime or capture those who commit serious crimes, because they're spending more time concentrating on finding ways to write tickets. Cities waste more money on photo enforcement to catch more speeders and red-light runners. Yet, with more tickets written, I consider the roads less safe than they were when I started driving, not more safe.
To demonstrate how this philosophy has played itself out in Colorado, I have a few words. Jonbenet Ramsey. Columbine. The Denver Police Department. Making most police, and especially rookies and lower-level officers, spend more time looking for ways to write tickets only trains them to be ticket writers, not to spot those who are committing or could commit more serious infractions. When a real situation comes along, many don't know how to handle it. Jonbenet's horribly bungled investigation...Columbine's needless tragedy with so many warning signs and such poor handling of the actual incident itself...DPD's continual problems with shooting innocent bystanders and profiling...all lead from forcing officers to focus on traffic enforcement. People who spend their time writing tickets get really good at writing tickets and not very good at much else. Yet this has been the standard for on-the-job training for rookie cops for a long time.
I don't blame the police; they do what they're told to do. Frankly, I feel sorry for them. Many of them joined the force to make a difference, but only end up in the unfulfilling position of opressing decent citizens. Indeed, even their ability to catch criminals when they get the chance are restricted; most cities have outlawed high-speed chases, lest any citizens get hurt through the criminals' recklessness. So the police are handcuffed, no pun intended. Ticket writing, I believe, has become the only thing they're permitted to do to either prevent "crime" or catch "criminals" in the act. However, as you and I know, writing a speeding ticket does nothing, prevents nothing but enlarging the government's coffers. For everyone person caught speeding, there are 1000 others who aren't caught. Car accidents still occur with regularlity, and many in which speed is not a factor. Parking tickets are even more of a waste, as are tickets for other ridiculous things like expired plates. I would argue, in fact, that the whole "we need more cops on the street to reduce crime" is a fallacy. The fact that we have most cops writing tickets and not investigating or preventing serious crime is proof that, if anything, we have TOO MANY cops, and we make them justify their jobs by writing tickets.
It's time that government revised the old ridiculous law enforcement paradigm and have cops focus on their REAL job, preventing and investigating serious crime and catching real criminals. Perhaps then citizens can really begin to feel secure, and the police can reach the level of public esteem they truly deserve for the dangers they face and the sacrifices they make.
Thanks for reading along.
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