re: Driverless Cars Could Cripple Law Enforcement Budgets

Half of that revenue comes from a single parish in Louisiana.

From what you've said, LA is a vastly different situation from Alabama. For example:

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So they write more tickets. Most small town police departments should not exist, and they have to be clever, or aggressive with the way they fund themselves.

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The way the revenue breaks out here, a small department really can't write enough tickets to make any real money. DUI arrests, misdemeanors, etc can pile it up but tickets just don't do it. The real scandal here is in the municipalites that use private probation services (and it isn't just small towns. Montgomery does it too). They're basically the court version of a title pawn place. Defendants that can't pay end up racking up outrageous fees that get split between the private service and the city. Montgomery brought in $15mil from this last year. Birmingham, similarly sized and worse in terms of crime doesn't use a private service and their court system only brought in $3mil. It is a terrible, terrible racket that should see folks go to jail, but the offenders aren't the PD that wrote someone a single ticket. It is the elected officials and judges.

It is all about to change because Montgomery just lost a federal lawsuit over the practice and the state supreme court added a part to the canon of judicial ethics that will cost judges their positions.

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Krotz Springs was just nasty about their speeding trap, and it's embarrassing, because it's like, 45 minutes outside of BR. The speed limit on 190 out there is 65, but when you get into town, it drops to 35.

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Here the state sets the speed limits on all interstates and state roads. A municipality only controls the city streets (not streets in the city - streets built and maintained by the city).

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Louisiana has similar restrictions, but we don't enforce it.

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State law here. If an officer wrote one, it would be tossed in court and he'd probably get sued.

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I would agree with you on a lot of small-town departments though, most of those jackholes aren't even POST-certified.

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Again, very different here. A non-POST officer can only work 6 months before getting the cert. All non-Post (paid or vollie reserve) cannot write tickets or make arrests without being under the direct supervision of a POST certified officer. Can't be via radio. POST officer must be physically on the scene.

Our local situation vastly influences our perceptions. Based on what you've posted, I'd feel the same way as you if that was the environment I lived in.

Not directed at you, but this statement:

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I saw at least 12 sheriffs hanging out on the interstate in Mississippi on my way home from panama.

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was interesting. I've been told that Sheriffs deputies can't write traffic tickets in Mississippi. Does anyone know if that's true?

Good. Maybe they can get back to solving crimes.

The absolutely awful thing about forfeiture is that very few of the people who have their assets seized are ever even prosecuted for a crime.

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According to the government’s own data, less than 20 percent of federal seizures involved property whose owners were ever prosecuted.

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LINK

Additionally, local law enforcement agencies will sometimes turn over seized assets to the Feds immediately and then get a cut back in revenue sharing.

It would be fantastic and it's coming probably mid century.

Supply & demand, cops make good cooks too.

One secret fantasy is to ride a crotch rocket motorcycle, dressed in all black, and paint ball speeding cameras.