this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2024
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chapotraphouse
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replying again because this got upvoted so much - is this now typical outside of Houston, Texas? Have cops really quit doing traffic enforcement nationwide?
My driving record proves that traffic enforcement is quite ubiquitous on the east coast anyway.
It is simply the free market in action. Police officers selectively enforce the laws that generate maximum revenue for the department, thus ensuring they can buy more landmine-proof trucks. It sounds like licensing infractions are not big ticket items in Houston.
Defund government agencies -> agencies now have to prioritize which things get done because they don’t have the staff -> agencies prioritize the highest yield efforts to ensure the lights stay on. Repeat cycle.
This is a problem beyond just the police. It’s how politicians (mainly Republicans) undermine laws and regulations they don’t like, without having to succeed in repealing them. The free market aspect is just a layer on top of this.
I think with police it's not defunding - no police departments were defunded in the USA, like two had their funding reduced for less than a year before getting it increased over the previous level. My perception is that the police are actively refusing to do most of their jobs now because they're still upset about BLM and the realization that most people don't really like or respect them.
True. I agree the specific case of police probably is not caused by shrinking budgets. Just adding in some context that, often, a focus on maximizing revenue is not solely due to market ideology. In fact, total net revenue may decrease even if the agency increases in % ‘profit’ (annual net revenue ÷ annual budget). The political motive for reducing the budget may not be in making the agency more efficient, but in fact undermining the agency as a whole, to force eventual abolishment or privatization.
I think it's largely dependent on what kind of civilian traffic goes on in a particular area; it's probably a common experience near the major metro areas.
For example, for alot of people far to the northwest of Chicago the largest amount of driving they are going to be doing is along the tollways/interstates going between the various suburbs and the city with their destination probably very close to an exit. There's just straight up less of a chance of running into a cop than if you were using regular streets/roads. With the volume of traffic on highways you have to be acting like a COLOSSAL dumbass to get picked out of that crowd, there's less police per sq. mile watching it, and whatever law your breaking has to be worth disrupting all that traffic and that's a fraught situation in itself. You may see cops parked on the median with their speed guns out but they're not checking your stickers or stopping people for having expired plates, they're looking for the guy going 120+ on the shoulder or overloaded trucks.
E) Thanks @stalinsmawaifu for bringing up "add-on" charges, could have saved myself some keystrokes if I remembered the term.
If most of the traffic is on regular streets with slower residential or commercial areas those police have literally nothing better to do than cruise around looking for something like this to pounce on.