re: The real crime problem in the Arkansas Delta region

Yup. I'm right there w/ ya. Officer J. Alvarado has nailed me 2x over the past few months in Fayetteville. I've passed by probably 50-60 other officers in NWA and only a state trooper popped me for no seatbelt in that time.

It's a racket and a bad one at that. If an adult is driving solo, in bumper to bumper traffic, who cares if they're wearing a belt or not.

UFC ref Big John McCarthy was on a podcast telling stories of his time as a LAPD officer, (he was on the force for the OJ chase, the Rodney King riots, crack epidemic, serious gang violence, etc.) he said only scared cops give seatbelt tickets. As in guys that are too scared to do real police work and they sit in the car and cherry pick law abiding people that make little errors like a taillight out, seatbelts, speeding. Ticketing honest people is a cash cow, these cops that are too scared to bust a real criminal or to work the streets and get info on where the drugs and human trafficking are happening are less than worthless.

It all boils down to an officer by office basis. I've had OK highway patrol honk at me and point at the belt and drive on, had AR state trooper go full lights and sirens from a stop light to flip around in Lowell and give me a seat belt ticket, while calling in a back up unit to cover him. Like I said only scared cops pull people over for ticky tacky useless victimless crimes. Wish they'd use our resources for things that make a difference.