Comments on: Ferguson, Mo.’s “culture of petty fines”

By: North County St. Louis: "Why Does a City With 600 Residents Need 14 Cops?" - Overlawyered

Tue, 09 Sep 2014 10:45:03 +0000

[…] Perhaps because it uses police for revenue collection rather than public safety. Last year the tiny town of Beverly Hills issued six traffic tickets and two ordinance violations for each resident. An investigation of the string of towns that includes Ferguson, Mo. finds heavy reliance on speed cameras and intensive traffic enforcement on sometimes-tiny stretches of road, oversized police forces, various anecdotes of assault and misconduct, and, in the case of the town of Edmundson, Mo., a memo from the mayor in April 2014 ordering the writing of more tickets. [Lisa Riordan Seville, NBC News; earlier] […]

By: From Coyote, a Ferguson, Mo. recollection - Overlawyered

From Coyote, a Ferguson, Mo. recollection - Overlawyered — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 13:45:03 +0000

[…] I and many other writers have noted lately, the town of Ferguson like several nearby suburbs in St. Louis […]

By: MattS

MattS — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 21:55:36 +0000

@VMS,

By using NYC as your example, you only reinforce the author’s point.

NYC has the second highest number of cops per capita of any city in the country, only DC is has more.

The national average for cops per capita is 17 officers per 10K population.

Ferguson is ~26 (53 offices / ~21K pop)
NYC is 59.5
DC is 68.5

The main reason for any city to be that far above the average is using the PD as a revenue source through petty and not so petty fines.

By: aaaa

aaaa — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 18:49:10 +0000

@VMS Racial spin comes from the tiny fact that whites in Fergusson are not treated the same way. They tend not to get those petty fines. It would be different if they would be treated the same way as blacks, but they are not.

By: HFB

HFB — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 17:25:28 +0000

VMS,

I agree with what you posted…but you really just argued Walter’s position in THIS post. “Race is one reason for constant police hassle in towns like Ferguson. Revenue is another.” AND “…even aside from the racial divide” from his post.

By: VMS

VMS — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 16:00:15 +0000

This statistic is a big “so what!” Why? Although you spin this “shocking news” to make it seem that the poor downtrodden minorities of Ferguson are the recipients of undue police attention, the same thing happens everywhere.

In NYC, the number of moving violations and parking tickets makes revenue a reason for constant police hassle. In fact projected revenue from fines is a line item in the NYC budget. According to the Comptroller’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and the Mayor’s Management Report (both for 2010), shows that the City issued 10,709,000 parking summons, which generated $604,050,097 in revenue. This does not include the moving violations issued in NYC. It does not include the Environmental Control Board violations where many of the summons are for the “gum wrapper” in the glass recyclable bin, or the Building Dept. violations for a hairline crack in a building’s facade. Keep in mind that each of these City departments maintains hearing offices in each borough that are operated in a bakery-like manner: Take a number, have a seat, and wait until it is called for your hearing (usually an hour’s wait).

Every city seems to racketeer in a similar manner. So why should Ferguson, MO be any different? Putting a racial spin on a universal race-neutral scummy revenue policy of municipalities is just plain wrong.