Posted on 06/02/2005 8:20:41 AM PDT by tgslTakoma
Edited on 06/02/2005 8:25:19 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Rockville, Md. (AP) - Maryland State Police are using a military tool in the battle against seat belt violators.
They're using night vision goggles to find people who don't buckle up after dark. Police say 40 percent of drivers don't use their seat belts at night, making the roads much more dangerous after sunset. Police in Maryland are among 13,000 agencies nationwide that are now using the goggles.
With the goggles, Police say they can see inside cars at a distance, allowing them to nail violators who might otherwise go undetected.
The new strategy is paying off. At a seat belt enforcement operation Wednesday night on Rockville Pike, officers issued at least 44 tickets for seat belt violations.
"What's the result? Poor people can no longer afford cars."
Yep. Plus the migration of manufacturing to low cost countries.
Police. What an absolute, utter waste.
Well, you are probably right. It all started with the concept of "You don't know what is best for you. We, being wiser will tell you what is best for you". Everything comes from that ill conceived notion. in any case, it is about power.
Cheers to the dummies who thought we could have just a little bit of a Nanny State.
"Winston, you suffer from a defective memory.."
Yep. And it all started as a way to arm the locals for the Drug War.
Bingo. I recall in Indianapolis a few years back they had police pulling over good drivers to give them free pizzas. A news crew had followed the cops and interviewed the drivers and just about every one of them was pissed. I know I would have been!
"Why were the seat belt violators wearing night vision goggles?......"
Thanks. I read it that way, too.
Yes. Watch this video from Ireland.
Yes, one would think that you do...after all, socialism from Democrats is far worse than socialism coming from Republicans.
The truth is, there is no right or left, There is only right and wrong.
The party bosses and ardent followers would have you believe otherwise. They would have you believe that right is whatever particular party they belong to, and wrong is the political opposition.
This might be true if the “sides” of today were genuine. Instead, both parties and most mainstream organizations funnel into the same end result: total control.
While the left and right bicker publicly on “hot topics," the end result is the same, regardless of who is President, or who is in control of Congress.
Less freedoms for individuals, less sovereignty for nations, losses of jobs through insane international agreements like NAFTA, the dilution of American culture, and the over extension of our military.
It’s been said that if you don’t like what the Republicans are doing, vote for the Democrats, and if you don’t like what Democrats are doing, vote Republican. It’s set up like a game. I have my favorite team, and you have yours. I’ll back my team no matter what, just as long as your team doesn’t win.
The problem is, both teams are full of scandalous figures who are so busy selling you and I out for their own personal gain, they have no time or desire to help our country in this time of need. While we Americans are busy cheering our favorite politicos and jeering our least favorites, both sides are pursuing the policy of the destruction of America.
ROFL!
They can spend resources arresting people who don't wear belts while gang bangers are running free on the streets!
...
I don't disagree with that.
>>If it was really about getting people to slow down, he'd sit out in the open. Instead, he gets one speeder out of many.
The most effective means I have seen to slow down interstate traffic is for a police officer to drive the speed limit in the right hand lane. I've seen people (on a 4 lane interstate) come whipping up in the left-most lane doing 80 (in a 65) and then slow way down when they see the CHP guy in the slow lane.
Had one CHP do about 10 mph under on a particularly stormy evening commute, and I have to say he probably saved some people from skidding off the road.
But you can't gin up revenue that way, as opposed to when you hide behind a billboard with your RADAR gun.
Too bad more states don't have speed trap laws like California's.
>>But you can't gin up revenue that way, as opposed to when you hide behind a billboard with your RADAR gun.
Yup. I guess that was my point (without actually saying it), that there are more effective means to slow down traffic without having to ticket. Just the *threat* of a ticket is enough to slow people down.
Usually though I am stuck in 15-30 mph commutes anyway, so there is not much chance of speeding, except in the nearly empty carpool lanes.
The older Anglo-American common law made all male citizens subject to duty as deputies upon the call of a sheriff or constable. This concept, shown in Western movies as a sheriff's posse, parallels the mandatory duty of all male citizens to serve in the militia. As communities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia grew into major cities, sheriffs stopped relying on posses and started using men paid on a part-time basis as watchmen and deputies. These watchmen and deputies were later transformed into full time, professional forces, on the model of London's Metropolitan Police.
However, the urban police forces have had long and sad histories of corruption many decades before modern liberalism became the dominant ideology in most American cities. Since police pay was notoriously low, the temptation to secure income by cooperating with bootleggers, pimps, gambling house owners, and drug dealers was very strong. From the 1890s to the 1970s, the New York Police Department went through several widespread revelations of scandals that implicated hundreds of policemen of all ranks. Planting throwdown guns or narcotics on suspected criminals is not a new tactic, and police stations before 1960 were notorious for the "third degree" (torture) imposed on suspects.
The use of police as enforcers of "nanny state" regulations, such as seat belts and helmets for motorcyclists, is a development of the last 50 years. While the laws dealing with the so-called victimless crimes (except narcotics) have become milder and (in the case of pornography) virtual dead letters, government regulation of other personal behaviors, such as tobacco, racial prejudice, gun ownership, etc., has drastically increased. In the case of traffic laws, fines are financially lucrative, and with the proliferation of regulations, local police forces have ever increasing opportunities to pay for their operations.
Additionally, lowered moral and educational standards have had their effects on all of society, including LEOs. In the America that existed before 1960, adherence to Judeo-Christian morality was the norm and, while that Biblically based code was often violated even then, immoral behavior was frowned upon by society in general. Public schools for the most part taught the three Rs and American history, including the Constitution. Good manners were the norm and were taught in the home. Most officers were generally well mannered 20-30 years ago unless the citizen was obnoxious or belligerent. That is not the case today with most LEOs.
Can a modern society function without a uniformed police force? As bad as the current system is, it is probably better than having the Crips, the Bloods, and various other gangs controlling the streets of major cities. However, the abuses by police and the politicians who command them are a major problem that festers, irrespective of which major party controls the city halls, court houses, or state capitals.
The only places they would have the ability to do this is where the law-abiding citizens are disarmed and defenseless by force of law.
All that money spent on nanny-state policies and not a dime for protecting the border...
It is not imperative that Police have NVGs in order to enforce the law about buckling up at night. What a joke, and waste of tax payers money. This is a luxury, and waste of the tax payers money. Perhaps you love government pork, but I do not.
I hear ya.
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