| Maybe in Seattle, but not here! Law enforcement is an embarrassment! This is a military town and a good deal of our deputies are fresh off the base - former MP's that haven't even had time to adjust to civilian life yet. It really IS the way they portray the south in the movies - speed traps, roadblocks, hidden stop signs, etc. FINALLY, earlier this year, Georgia changed the law to where a trafftc violation is no longer a FELONY. Traffic tickets are the major source of income for the counties and the sentences always came with community service. That's how we get our roadways cleaned. Drug convictions, on the other hand, cost the county money if jail time is given, so probation is the norm. The crack-head I shot at last year had 42 felony convictions on his record. It should have been more, but he rolled to have a lot of other charges reduced to misdemeanors. Needless to say, the jury wasn't overly impressed with him and I walked. Anyway, my point is that a convicted felon (and this is an actual incident) gets arrested for cocaine possession with intent to distribute and possession of marajuana, gives up some useless information to the detective, has the major charge dropped and is only charged with the misdemeanor (for which he only gets more probation), but some old lady that is charged with a seat belt violation gets written up in the newspaper and publicly humiliated. |
