Gotta disagree with you on this one. They recently changed the speed limit (lowered it). Generally, when a municipality does this, it is in response to a problem, typically too many accidents. They do not go out and spend several thousand dollars on new traffic signs just to make a few hundred dollars in fines. To suggest that the officer was there simply to "fish" is a bit ignorant, even for you (ok, j/k on that last bit:lol: ). There has obviously been a problem in that area that required the lower limit, and the officer may very well have been patrolling that area for the safety of the public. Ever think of that? Gee, what a novel idea: police protecting the public!:shock:
There are 2 kinds of people. Those that think Cops are all out to get us, and those that think Cops are infallible human beings that are completely altruistic in their intent. The truth is somewhere in between, and every police officer is different.
First of all, TC and I aren't suggesting he plead innocent because he was ignorant of the change in MPH, but rather that he plead guilty and talk his way out of the ticket. Think it doesn't work? WRONG! I've done it. I talked my way out of a 20 MPH over the limit clock and got both my fine reduced, and only had to attend 1 day of driving school. You just have to be very humble as TC suggested and present it as a life lesson. Sparky, don't hate on Currupt just because he's able to more eloquently present himself in court. Just because you showed up in a hawaiian flower shirt and flip flops and ended up getting your fines doubled doesn't mean Currupt will suffer the same fate. I seriously doubt the Judge will raise the fine if he pleads guilty, so there's no sense in not trying.
Secondly, Cops DO hawk. I've got 2 buddies (just as everyone does) who are officers. They get written up for not writing enough tickets. A common argument against this notion, is that they always say that they don't have a quota. That's true, they
don't. But management does track the amount of traffic tickets they write, and they indeed expect a reasonable amount. I've heard Brian (My bud) talk about how there are well-known "spots" for getting setting up shop and gunning speeders. Hey, they gotta do what they gotta do, but you can't deny that a little bit of "fishing" doesn't take place. Is it still against the law to speed? Yes.
Similarly, cops in Denver hang around bars to pull folks over to hand out DUI's. It's fishing, but it's necessary.
Now, I'm not suggesting that such tactics can't overlap with an actual public need for the speed limit to be lowered, but there is pressure (at least from Denver PD) to make sure you are doing your part in writing X amount of tickets per month, even though there's no actual quota.
