Flaws Of The Municipal Violations System

[Jazzy]

John Oliver On The Many Flaws Of The Municipal Violations System
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjpmT5noto

Thoughts?

 

[Webster]

Municipal violations (a/k/a ordinances) are one of those gray areas of the law, Jazzy, where - unlike laws - police officers actually have discretion to either enforce or not enforce them....unfortunately, most officers - either because they actually enforce these ordinances or because of 'pressure' put on them (read: ticket quotas...they do exist!). And whoa to anyone who gets ticketed for what, at best, should be a minor offense; in most states, the fines themselves are a pittance; its' the fees that cost you. (Case in point: I got a ticket a few years ago for allegedly running a stop sign. The fine itself: $35 dollars. Court fees: $165 dollars...and that included fees to the court system, the DA's office, etc.)

The problem is we've cut government funding in regards to localities to such a point that, as John Oliver points out in the video, most jurisdictions have no choice: they have to write tickets and issue fines in order to provide revenue for their municipalities...which can then feed a vicious circle: the more funding you get from that revenue stream, the less you have to depend on taxation and so forth. Of course, the flip side is that, in most areas, no one's willing to raise taxes to cover city/municipal services, so its' either cut services...or find other means of raising revenue.