Jump to content

Speeding tickets in Tennessee?


Recommended Posts

1 minute ago, monkeylizard said:

I know. I just don't know why they do. It's clear that we've created a serious conflict of interest in many areas involving police and money.

I can only speak for the jurisdiction that I was a LEO in during the 90's, and contrary to some beliefs the police weren't doing it for their budget. The money from tickets went into the general fund. Then the trend started to add fees to the ticket dedicated to a specific purpose. Example: DUI convictions added fees for compensating the PD for equipment and training for DUI enforcement. I actually wrote the ordnance for the town to pay for our advanced breathalyzer machine that used spectrum analysis to determine BAC. At the time we were still using a Breathalyzer 900A that used photocells and chemical reactants in ampules, IIRC.

Link to comment
  • Moderators

In the interest of clarity, let me say that I never meant to infer that it was for the PD budget. I know those fines are directed to the municipality's general fund. That doesn't change the purpose, just who is behind it. As an example, the DOJ report after the Ferguson riots detailed how the municipal government exerted pressure on the PD to increase ticketing to generate more revenue. Or for another, less contentious example closer to home, Piperton as previously mentioned derives a large amount of its budget from traffic violations.  

The two biggest giveaways that the purpose of the traffic enforcement is for revenue generation are pretty easy to spot. Does the municipality have traffic/petty fines listed as an expected revenue source in its budget. Does the municipality report the infractions to the state or does it just keep the records, and revenue to themselves or "dismiss on court costs"?

 

Here's a great op ed on the subject from last year.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckdevore/2016/10/26/police-collected-fines-fees-and-forfeitures-how-does-your-city-rank/#6dea23525202

Edited by Chucktshoes
  • Like 1
Link to comment

As someone who has worked traffic, I can say traffic enforcement is not simply for revenue generation. If you live in an area where “real” criminals kill and injure more people than traffic offenders; you should think about moving.

Having said that, certainly traffic fines generate revenue. (Although I doubt it generates more than enforcement costs). What do you guys suggest to fill the void when you do away with traffic ticket fines, increase property taxes?

I also think from what I hear that these camera contracts cost more than cops and squad cars. Maybe traffic enforcement should be left to highly visible Police Officers.

I don’t feel strongly about the fines one way or another but I think I’m okay with letting the violators pay. My wife donated last month.

Link to comment

A friend of mine recently left law enforcement but he told me that one year while working on Thanksgiving his supervisor told them during the pre-shift meeting that every officer needed to go out and write at least 3 tickets. My friend said something about that being harsh on Thanksgiving and he almost got fired for it.

Every single one of them went out that Thanksgiving morning and wrote 3 tickets. Public safety and all....

Edited by Erik88
Link to comment
11 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

A friend of mine recently left law enforcement but he told me that one year while working on Thanksgiving his supervisor told them during the pre-shift meeting that every officer needed to go out and write at least 3 tickets. My friend said something about that being harsh on Thanksgiving and he almost got fired for it.

Every single one of them went out that Thanksgiving morning and wrote 3 tickets. Public safety and all....

Haven't heard about the quotas in this thread yet that everyone knows about but no one discusses.  ;)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
1 hour ago, DaveTN said:

As someone who has worked traffic, I can say traffic enforcement is not simply for revenue generation. If you live in an area where “real” criminals kill and injure more people than traffic offenders; you should think about moving.

Having said that, certainly traffic fines generate revenue. (Although I doubt it generates more than enforcement costs). What do you guys suggest to fill the void when you do away with traffic ticket fines, increase property taxes?

I also think from what I hear that these camera contracts cost more than cops and squad cars. Maybe traffic enforcement should be left to highly visible Police Officers.

I don’t feel strongly about the fines one way or another but I think I’m okay with letting the violators pay. My wife donated last month.

Why would there be a void if no revenue were generated by tickets?

Is that how departments create their budgets? Including expected violations?

If so, the confiscation of people's $ is right on par for the enforcement of our rights. Smh

Its bad business for communities to count on $ that aren't guaranteed. I understand it's the norm these days. My county is 85mil in debt and there are only 57k residents. 

Absolutely irresponsible! Lacking a catastrophe' there's no reason in the world for that except incompetence due to poor planning.

 

Link to comment
29 minutes ago, Ugly said:

Its bad business for communities to count on $ that aren't guaranteed. 

 

Would be kind of like me expecting to win the lotto to pay my bills.

I got a ticket right up next to the KY border once and you could tell that was the city/county's cash cow. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
4 minutes ago, Ronald_55 said:

Would be kind of like me expecting to win the lotto to pay my bills.

The difference is local PD's and County SD's depend on that revenue and taxpayers will pick up the tab when the books don't balance.  But magically the books sometimes balance.

 

Link to comment
  • Moderators
3 hours ago, DaveTN said:

Having said that, certainly traffic fines generate revenue. (Although I doubt it generates more than enforcement costs). What do you guys suggest to fill the void when you do away with traffic ticket fines, increase property taxes?.

My vote is shrink the government to match the revenues. If government is providing a service folks actually value, they'd be willing to pay for it voluntarily instead of at gunpoint. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
3 hours ago, Ronald_55 said:

What quotas? There are no quotas. They just hire twice as many cops to patrol the last week of every month. 

Most cops I know don't have a problem  talking about them. We had quotas. They called them "acceptable standards". They were 100 tickets a month for a traffic Officer and 10 a month for a District Officer. Most Traffic Officers wrote far more than that, District Officers was a toss up, some wrote more some wrote hardly any.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
17 hours ago, DaveTN said:

Most cops I know don't have a problem  talking about them. We had quotas. They called them "acceptable standards". They were 100 tickets a month for a traffic Officer and 10 a month for a District Officer. Most Traffic Officers wrote far more than that, District Officers was a toss up, some wrote more some wrote hardly any.

As much as it pains me to say this, a ticket quota for a cop is no different than one of us being required to repair 100 widgets a week at work, or whatever we do.  I never complain about getting tickets for speeding or parking (that BS incident from 2011 was the only time in my life I've had an issue with tickets).  It's stupid to even argue with the police over them, for the most part they don't randomly pick a car and go pursue it to charge them with something.. and as a regular speeder, I figured that one ticket @ $100 or whatever they are now every few years is well worth the time it saves me over those years. :D 

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

TRADING POST NOTICE

Before engaging in any transaction of goods or services on TGO, all parties involved must know and follow the local, state and Federal laws regarding those transactions.

TGO makes no claims, guarantees or assurances regarding any such transactions.

THE FINE PRINT

Tennessee Gun Owners (TNGunOwners.com) is the premier Community and Discussion Forum for gun owners, firearm enthusiasts, sportsmen and Second Amendment proponents in the state of Tennessee and surrounding region.

TNGunOwners.com (TGO) is a presentation of Enthusiast Productions. The TGO state flag logo and the TGO tri-hole "icon" logo are trademarks of Tennessee Gun Owners. The TGO logos and all content presented on this site may not be reproduced in any form without express written permission. The opinions expressed on TGO are those of their authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the site's owners or staff.

TNGunOwners.com (TGO) is not a lobbying organization and has no affiliation with any lobbying organizations.  Beware of scammers using the Tennessee Gun Owners name, purporting to be Pro-2A lobbying organizations!

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to the following.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines
 
We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.