NO SEAT BELT? CALL SWAT!

Trust me I know. All of us are either hurting for money or feel pressure to save as much as possible. I myself have been unemployed for over three months now without nary a job opportunity. Everyday more bad news gets posted on all the news services. 15,000 jobs lost there, 5,000 lost here. Where it will end no one can say. So if you have a job consider your self lucky and a breed that is becoming more and more rare.
That may be why I am so irate with the various police agencies. In my area they are pushing hard to write as many tickets as possible. To have as many cars towed to police yards as possible. They say it is in the name of public safety but I read in my local paper today that for many cities it has become a major source of income for them. Around here you will find police cars hiding behind buildings. Find them on the other side of shrubbery with radar guns peeking around the side. And the tickets they write? If your a couple miles over the speed limit you get a ticket. If your registration tag is a little past due you get a ticket. If you don't have your seat belt on you get a ticket.
In these tough times how is being a little late on your cars registration a danger to society? And no I'm not late on mine. But I can certainly understand someone who sends in his mortgage before paying for tags. The day may soon come when I have to make that same decision. It may come for you too. Is local government being understanding to this problem? Nope. It just means as more people find it almost impossible to pay for things like tags for their car the police have the opportunity to write more income producing tickets. The local cities around me often have what they call DUI checkpoints. Now we come to find out that the number of drunk drivers taken off the roads is very, very small. But the number of cars being towed due to other problems is huge. If your in a check point there is no quarter given for any violation they find against you. Your car is towed. And around here the check points seem to be set up in the poorest of neighborhoods where it's most likely to find problem cars. Of course if you do get your car towed it will cost you hundreds of dollars. If you can't afford a one hundred dollar tag chances are pretty good you can't afford a few hundred dollars to get your car out of the impound lot. Don't worry you may have a chance to buy your car back at a public auction.
That brings up a question for you. While the police are using all these resources to set up checkpoints (often involving ten or more police cars) and hiding behind bushes who's actually out there serving and protecting? Is the main goal of the police department to increase theirs and city halls bank account? Is the public now just considered fish in a pond. Just find the right lure and reel us and our check books in. The police just use that famous statement: It's for our safety and most people nod their head in agreement. Well do you really feel safer because your unemployed neighbor had his car impounded? Do you feel safer because the guy across the street has to pay a couple hundred dollars because he forgot to put on his seat belt?
Maybe it's time for police to go back to fighting crime. God bless firefighters. They don't hide behind buildings they save the building and the people in them.