Texas town "fires" and shuts down entire police department
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A lawless town? THIS IS MY CHANCE!
*cues dark,dramatic music*
Hrrrghhrrmmmmm!
A town without law.
It's citizens unprotected, crying out for help.
I will answer their call.
I am the hero Alto needs, even if they don't know it.
When criminals try to take advantage of this town's desperate situation, I'll be there to stop them.
Because I am vengeance.
I am the NIGHT!
I. AM. JACKMAN!
*cues dark,dramatic music*
Hrrrghhrrmmmmm!
A town without law.
It's citizens unprotected, crying out for help.
I will answer their call.
I am the hero Alto needs, even if they don't know it.
When criminals try to take advantage of this town's desperate situation, I'll be there to stop them.
Because I am vengeance.
I am the NIGHT!
I. AM. JACKMAN!
True that! In my hometown (in Oklahoma), Texas is a joke. And well...Oklahoma is a joke to the rest of the United States...Vausch said:
1st Guy: "Republicans did it!"
2nd Guy: "Um, no party affiliations were mentioned at all."
1st Guy: "Er...it was a joke."
3rd Guy: "This is a Red State! Republicans did it!"
REALITY: After spending the last hour searching the Alto city website, every article I could find on the subject, and various political demographics sites, there is NOTHING that says what party the town council members belong to.
Not even the demographic data is conclusive. Most of the donations on record from the town's citizens have gone to Republican or (apparently) independent candidates, but the total number of donors themselves aren't even 1% of the already-tiny population of less than 1200. Meanwhile, Alto has a community which you would THINK leans Democrat, with higher-than-average populations of retirees, women, and minorities (the town is actually known for cultural diversity, with as an example a 24% black population).
So I guess you can just make up whatever fits your political agenda. That is, if you were planning on ignoring the fact that they cut the police budget in order to pay for badly-needed renovations to the town's natural-gas plant, Alto's biggest revenue-generator.
2nd Guy: "Um, no party affiliations were mentioned at all."
1st Guy: "Er...it was a joke."
3rd Guy: "This is a Red State! Republicans did it!"
REALITY: After spending the last hour searching the Alto city website, every article I could find on the subject, and various political demographics sites, there is NOTHING that says what party the town council members belong to.
Not even the demographic data is conclusive. Most of the donations on record from the town's citizens have gone to Republican or (apparently) independent candidates, but the total number of donors themselves aren't even 1% of the already-tiny population of less than 1200. Meanwhile, Alto has a community which you would THINK leans Democrat, with higher-than-average populations of retirees, women, and minorities (the town is actually known for cultural diversity, with as an example a 24% black population).
So I guess you can just make up whatever fits your political agenda. That is, if you were planning on ignoring the fact that they cut the police budget in order to pay for badly-needed renovations to the town's natural-gas plant, Alto's biggest revenue-generator.
Same thing happened to my town (I live in western Washington BTW), and the place has not become a hell-hole yet. Not exactly the best place to live either, but it is not crime-ridden as far as I can tell. Everyone here should stop overreacting...
EDIT: Also, I hope that town doesn't dread... SUNDOWN!!! *snicker, snicker, snicker* Oh Breakfastman, you so clever!
EDIT: Also, I hope that town doesn't dread... SUNDOWN!!! *snicker, snicker, snicker* Oh Breakfastman, you so clever!
I worked for over a year giving city tickets for parking violations (Not police, security) with fines anywhere from twenty bucks to a few hundred. You have absolutely no idea how many people shouted at me angrily about how I was just giving them a ticket to fill some sort of quota, screaming and generally just hating my guts because I was unjustly finding reasons to ticket them in order to fill my monthly allocation of tickets.Saltyk said:
There was never a quota. I hated giving tickets because it meant paperwork and I much preferred just wandering and talking to people rather than being stuck behind a desk filling out details in a form no one will ever read and generally used every excuse possible not to pull out the booklet.
Perhaps it's different in some places, but largely speaking that's an urban myth. There is no quota and as far as I know never was. Again, maybe in some places. But certainly not all.
Yeah, I can understand how you would not like that. People hating your guts for doing your job. But, if I read your comment right, you were not a police officer, but worked as security. So, things might be different for you.The Madman said:
However, I just did a quick search and found some sources that state otherwise.
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/04/12/report-la-police-officers-who-alleged-ticket-quota-system-win/
http://www.safemotorist.com/articles/traffic_ticket_quotas.aspx
Based on these and a few other search results, it seems that its less a quota and more an expectation. Sometimes it might be an attempt to look like they are not being lazy, or pressure from the higher ups, or a guy looking to climb the ranks, but to say that there is no expectation of a certain amount of tickets being written, is not exactly accurate. And in the worst cases, there were allegations of officers being punished for not writing enough tickets or being rewarded for writing a lot of tickets.
I've even gotten tickets for total crap. Some years back, I was pulled over under suspicion of being drunk (I was really tired and on the way home). After failing the sobriety test (really really tired), I took a breathalyzer test which I assume came up a perfect zero. I still got two tickets. One for no proof of insurance and one because my tag light was out. Okay, so maybe my tag light was out, but I paid for the 39 cent light and had that ticket dismissed, but the no proof of insurance was completely bogus. I did have an insurance card, but it was for the wrong car as I just got a new one. But it was the same insurance company and under the same name and policy number. All that was different was the car name. And last I checked, the police can look that kind of thing up in their cars. I'm still convinced the officer was just mad because I wasn't drunk. And, yes, that ticket was also dismissed in court.
No offence, but if you failed the sobriety test regardless of reason, a test specifically designed to test your cognitive abilities in order to ensure you're capable of driving properly, then he had every right to pull you over and honestly I would have done the same. Statistically speaking people driving while sleepy is nearly as likely to get you and others killed as drunk driving since both scenario impair your thinking abilities and reaction time. If you want I can provide links to that as well. He possibly just wanted to ensure you had some sort of proverbial slap on the wrist for driving in a bad state. Not alls nefarious goals and moustache twirling when police are involved.
And people challenged the tickets I wrote as well and I usually let them go. Know why? By law if I didn't show up to defend the ticket it was thrown out, might be different elsewhere, but that's how it worked for me. I didn't get time off work for that either and screw days off to go argue in court against some jackass who double parked in a handicap zone. Not to mention if I made a single even minor mistake in the paperwork it was gone as well. Challenging a ticket is often a default win simply because it's such a pain in the ass for everyone involved. (Free trick there for ya!).
As for quotas, I can provide links saying it's a myth as well. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I've absolutely no doubt it does exist in some places, all I'm saying is that it isn't everywhere. Provide an opposing view! People reading your comment shouldn't automatically presume 'the man' is out to get them for their cash so they can afford new toys... Thats another one I heard a lot by the way, no wonder I quit. Pay was alright, I liked always being outside and on the move. But god, the hostility. How can cops even handle it, must be so much worse for them?
Yes, I was security, not police. However where I live parking tickets are almost exclusively handled by a security firm. Police generally left for driving infractions and important stuff. So if there was a 'quota' I would have had it.
Again, not saying it doesn't exist in places. But it's not nearly as pervasive as you made it out to be originally. That's all.
And people challenged the tickets I wrote as well and I usually let them go. Know why? By law if I didn't show up to defend the ticket it was thrown out, might be different elsewhere, but that's how it worked for me. I didn't get time off work for that either and screw days off to go argue in court against some jackass who double parked in a handicap zone. Not to mention if I made a single even minor mistake in the paperwork it was gone as well. Challenging a ticket is often a default win simply because it's such a pain in the ass for everyone involved. (Free trick there for ya!).
As for quotas, I can provide links saying it's a myth as well. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I've absolutely no doubt it does exist in some places, all I'm saying is that it isn't everywhere. Provide an opposing view! People reading your comment shouldn't automatically presume 'the man' is out to get them for their cash so they can afford new toys... Thats another one I heard a lot by the way, no wonder I quit. Pay was alright, I liked always being outside and on the move. But god, the hostility. How can cops even handle it, must be so much worse for them?
Yes, I was security, not police. However where I live parking tickets are almost exclusively handled by a security firm. Police generally left for driving infractions and important stuff. So if there was a 'quota' I would have had it.
Again, not saying it doesn't exist in places. But it's not nearly as pervasive as you made it out to be originally. That's all.