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.
13 comments:
That sting is even worse than the one our own police did 10 - 15 years ago. They took the 35 speed limit signs down on a pretty open street in Ogden, Then proceeded to issue tickets to whoever went faster than 25 mph. You'd be surprised how many people didn't even notice the speed limit signs were missing.
On the current Ogden scene: Traffic officers in Ogden have had their "Performance Standard" (in other words, the ticket quota)increased from 100 to 160 tickets a month. If you think you've seen the officers out there issuing more tickets, you're right.
The decision came straight from that greedy, money-hungary mayor we have. I guess he is going to come up with the money for his veladrome one way or the other!
If we weren't all adults, I'd suggest egging an appropriate payment for such a rotten deed.
Why would anybody vote 4 a REPUBLICAN after this dooped Iraq war and this highest taxed state in the nation.
Hansen just may not be around till hell freezes over. In fact if he isn't careful he might not even be around this coming session.
It is no secret that his opponent is being backed in a big way by the Godfrey gang and more specifically the evil Greiner is putting lots of money and energy into getting rid of Hansen.
As the last election showed, this is a dangerous and evil group that has a good rate of success at getting their dark knights elected in Ogden.
I don't think Hansen can just coast to victory like he has in the past.
Godfrey has also asked the fire department to cut the budget by $200,000. In the last several weeks 3 guys have quit, taking about 22 years of experience with them. There are paramedics on the hiring list of other departments, could be 40 more years of combined experience leaving quickly.
There are firefighters who have been here for 6 years and are still making the same wage. What used to be a 5% step increase is gone with the new "pay for performance" system. Don't let them fool you-we didn't choose it-we were told we chose it.
Does the administration care-no. Are they happy-yes, better to have a bottom pay range guy than top pay range guy.
Should the citizens care? If your child has stopped breathing or your house is on fire which one do you hope pulls up to the door, the truck with 2 guys with 30 years experience or the truck with 2 guys with 3?
Another Firefighter's post has me thinking yet again that one of the real problem in the Mayor's office is its occupant's poor business judgment. Whatever reputation he may have once had... or thought he had... as some kind of business wunderkind has become too threadbare now to cover up his misjudgments.
I haven't heard much lately from the public voice of the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Hardman --- famous for having led the Chamber over the cliff on the Mayor's gondola/gondola obsession and related scheme to sell Mt. Ogden Park to an FOM to build high end vacation villas [into the teeth of a collapsing real estate market]. I wonder if Mr. Hardman and the Chamber he speaks for are still as uncritical tub-thumpers for Hizzonah as they used to be.
Why does Godfrey want $200,000. from the FD's budget? Has he taken money from other department's budgets? Godfrey is treacherous and larcenous. His misdeeds need to be made public and the Attorney General's office, and the ACLU need to be made aware his misuse of taxpayer funds! We are so glad that we found out what he trying to do.
Wants:
I don't know, but at a guess: declining business activity [thank you so much G. Bush and Republicans] has cut into city tax revenues, and Hizzonah is ordering a mid-course correction [i.e. cutting] of departmental budgets as a way to deal with it. Of course, there might be more money in the budget to deal with tax shortfalls if the city weren't now paying off the construction bonds for the Junction development, which Hizzonah had assured the Council the city absolutely would not have to do when he asked that the bonds be approved.
No, I don't know that that's what's behind his cutting of the fire department's expenditures. It's just a speculation on my part.
Let's get rid of the little bastard! What else has he done that the AG would be interested in? I believe that there is a person who is brave enough to see that justice is done. Contact that person with your inside information!
Curmudgeon, could be, but then why is he still pushing that stupid veladrome bit? He told the Council at their work meeting that the hundreds of thousands of dollars the City would need to come up with could come from the BDO money. I wonder how many times he's spent those same dollars?!
It might be a good idea to start tracking the fiasco called the State Legislature and the lame members that voted in 2007 to pass a bill that denied the civil rights of citizens by a unanimous vote to please greedy developers. HB466 is a shinning example of the dumb bell thinking of the legislature. Hansen voted for it too!!!!!!
Comment bumped up to top shelf
"Need a new Mayor"
Well, I certainly agree with that!
As to the Attorney General - sorry to disappoint you, but the AG is fully aware of the perfidy of the Godfrey Administration. He, a republican co-conspirator, has been informed many times by various citizens of the crimes and misdemeanors being committed against the citizens of Ogden by Godfrey and his inner circle of crooks. There has been lots of evidence turned over to that - do nothing against fellow republicans - office. All of it has been ignored for the last several years. The best action any one has ever received from the embarrassing Utah AG office is to have a low level para legal review and reject some complaints. Most other complaints have just merely been ignored.
Utah's republican crooks do not investigate other republican crooks!
Time to vote a Democrate back as AG. Vote Jean Welch Hill in Nov. As I recall the last Democratic AG Jan Graham did a great job and was passionate about the law for all.
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