By Curmudgeon
Something interesting today on the constant Weber County Forum topic of ticket quotas. Here's the gist, from Paul Rolly's column in today's Salt Lake Tribune:
Link to Rolly's column is here.Making quotas?
Peter Hasby was approaching the intersection of Fayette Drive on 900 West in Salt Lake City's Glendale area Aug. 28 about 6:30 p.m. when he noticed a motorcycle cop pulling over a motorist and several other motorcycle cops converged just up the street.
Distracted by all the uniforms, he then noticed out of the corner of his eye someone yelling and waving on the curb as he went through the intersection.
That's when he got pulled over.
Within a span of a couple of minutes, Hasby and four other drivers were pulled over in a sting operation to nab motorists for not stopping for a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
The guy yelling and waving was the bait and the cops were there to write up tickets as easy as pulling trout from a stocked backyard pond.
When Hasby protested to the officer that the pedestrian had not even entered the crosswalk, the cop told him he could appeal the ticket. All he had to do was lose several hours of work to appear in court and plead his case to what we're all sure would be a very sympathetic hearing officer.
Editor's addendum: One more reason to consider re-electing five-term Weber County House District Legislative Nine candidate Neil Hansen back for a sixth term, we thinks. We talked to Representative Hansen earlier today, and he tells us he'll run a new anti-ticket quota bill every year 'til hell freezes, or until such a bill passes in the Utah legislature, whichever comes first.
Don't let the cat get your tongues.
