The claim was that all police routinely plant false evidence and perjure themselves in sworn testimony in open court. Police have zero powers of discretion in following their rule book. If they want a confession they have numerous tricks to elicit that. Most police solve crimes when someone rats someone out. It doesn't surprise me at all you would be chummy with the police. Their real job is to raise revenue for themselves and their towns and cities.
Calgary Police Service handed out a record $40.8 million in ticket fines in 2012
First posted: Monday, March 18,
2013 07:28 PM MDT | Updated: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 09:31 AM MDT
For the second straight year, the Calgary Police Service is sitting on a record-breaking pile of cash, having exceeded their own budget expectations by $2.5 million — every penny coming straight from the pockets of penalized motorists.
It adds up to a whopping $40.8 million in total fine revenue for 2012, including face-to-face traffic tickets, photo radar, red-light cameras — and this year, more than ever before, speed-on-green cameras.
“We had limited speed-on-green in previous years, so there was an unknown as to what it might look like as we implemented more cameras in 2012,” said Kevin Brookwell, spokesman for the Calgary Police Service.
“Now with a full year behind us, we have a better idea of what a full year of speed on green looks like.”
What it looks like is another few million dollars on an already enormous mound of money, helping Calgary cops break their own fine-revenue record for the second straight year.
In 2011, for the first time in Calgary Police Service history, fines and penalties surpassed the $40-million mark, hitting $40.2 million.
This year’s $40.8 million pushes the record — and Calgary’s controversy over automated policing — to a new peak.
It’s hard not to sympathize with those who curse the constant clicking of police cameras as a cash cow.
For a sense of perspective, that $40.8 million would cover the bill for all equipment purchased annually by the Calgary Police Service twice over, including vehicles, computers, guns, body armour, radios and phones.
Put another way, if the Calgary Police Service could use the entire $40.8 million to buy nothing but new cruisers, it would buy roughly 900 top-of-the-line police cars, with every bell, whistle and siren available.
That’s a huge amount of cash coming from cameras that require a handful of cops to manage, but Brookwell says the official police policy is that enforcement is a deterrent, not a fundraiser.
“The goal of automated enforcement, and fines, and especially face-to-face enforcement, is to change driver behaviour,” said Brookwell.
“In a perfect world, if everybody abided by the speed limits and didn’t run red lights, and didn’t floor it through yellow lights, this wouldn’t be the case.”
But the deterrence model, at least when it comes to speeding, clearly isn’t working.
Every year, the ticket numbers climb — no matter how many tickets the cameras generate in 12 months, the next year there are more speeders forking over money.
Last year was no exception.
As reported in the Sun last month, automated speeding tickets were up across the board in 2012, with photo radar climbing from 156,533 tickets in 2011 to 192,956 infractions.
Speed-on-green went from 99,258 tickets in 2011 to 123,284 last year, as motorists sped past the unmanned cameras.
It’s the lack of deterrence that has spurred a backlash against automated policing in other jurisdictions.
States like Arizona have passed legislation looking to ban photo radar devices, while others, including Maine, Mississippi, Montana, West Virginia, and New Hampshire have moved to outlaw unmanned cameras like those used in Calgary.
Closer to home, Strathcona County removed photo radar on Sept. 1, 2012, with Coun. Brian Botterill saying the units did nothing to actually police motorists, unlike say, actual police.
“Speed isn’t what’s causing most of our accidents,” he told Sun Media.
“There are a lot of other factors which photo radar would never catch.”
And that’s always been the argument against policing by proxy — that being ticketed long after the fact only punishes the wallet, teaching a law breaking driver nothing.
But Brookwell doesn’t buy that. He said every motorist in the city is well aware there are cameras everywhere, and red light camera infractions have dropped since they became commonplace.
Speeders don’t learn, and that’s the other side of the ticket revenue debate.
It’s a tax on those who choose to break the law.
“The bottom line, everyone knows the cameras are out there and the officers are out there, and the bottom line is, change your driving habits if you don’t want to pay,” said Brookwell.
“Stick to the speed limit and the revenue drops to zero.” |
