One Way Politicians Dangerously Divide our Cops from Citizens

Chicago, IL—At the worst possible time in our economy the traffic fines here have nearly doubled. This is not about safety, but revenue for out-of-control spending by local government.

Police here are forced to strong-arm motorists for petty and harmless violations. Even those robot cameras out there have the face of the local cop who will eventually become involved in those prosecutions.

It’s only the street cop, not the politicians that are seen as the villain taking the food out of suffering family’s mouths. Not only does the government commit extortion but the automobile insurance companies jump on the bandwagon to boost their profits. Of course it’s that cop who is deemed responsible for the infliction of the misery.

Traffic enforcement for revenue rather than safety is a vile practice that will guarantee to sabotage any trust or respect citizens have for police. When citizens lose respect for police they also lose respect for the law and the result is a society where criminal activity is acceptable. The, us or them mentality between cops and citizens creates dangerous conditions that only foster the breakdown of law and order.

Politicians cannot be allowed to paint a target on every policeman’s butt. The cops themselves must resist being involved in the extortion.

In a city such as Chicago there is already a nasty divide between citizens and police. What is government doing to heal this rift?

Go ahead and argue it’s the traffic violator that created his problems. There are many millions of decent people that are forced to drive endlessly on our streets just to make a living. Those are generally low paid jobs where efficiency and speed determine whether the rent is paid. Let’s just take these folks out of the productive workforce and put them on welfare through the traffic extortion concept.