LA Speed Trap Cops Busted for Corruption
The mayor and police chief of a federally-funded Louisiana speed trap town were arrested Wednesday on felony corruption charges. A Tensas Parish grand jury indicted Waterproof Mayor Bobby Higginbotham for felony theft, malfeasance in office, payroll fraud and using public funds for personal use. Waterproof Police Chief Miles Jenkins faces three felony counts for receiving bonuses for meeting traffic ticket quotas and altering traffic citations. The activities of both officials were fueled by federal taxpayer dollars. In 2007, Higginbotham received $37,500 from the US Department of Agriculture Rural Development’s Community Facilities Program for the purchase of two police cars fully equipped with the latest speed detection equipment. Higginbotham ordered Miles to use these vehicles to prey on State Highway 65 travelers as the speed limit dropped without warning to 45 MPH within the town limits.
Even before the arrival of the new cruisers, Waterproof earned 37 percent of its budget from speeding tickets, according to a 2007 report by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor. Higginbotham and Jenkins are out on bond awaiting trial. Louisiana State Police officials say the investigation into their activities is ongoing.
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I guess if NY metro want to play silly-buggers, I don't have to drive through there on the way to visit my sister on Long Island. I'll take the ferry from CT. I didn't want to go through NYC traffic, anyway. And I sure won't bother going to the city to see it or spend any money in it. Same theory if/when I get hit by speeding tickets in the scams which abound in "some" areas. Think I'll ever visit/vacation/spend money in that area? Thinks again. I won't even go through the area just out of principle - if I hear about areas which are scammy. And I mean that in the worst possible skanky sense. People who are supposed to uphold the law and use their powers against the public are the worst of the worst (OK almost all of the US Congress and Senate and virtually all living past and present Presidential administrations can now look in the mirror to see skanky scammy scum)
Menno, you'll want to stay from the state of Washington too then. You read a lot of stuff online about Arizona's obsession with speed law enforcement, but Washington's got a lot of state troopers, and more determination to use them as radar speed cops.
grifonik, which place. Pine Lake?
Didn't feudal landlords charge tolls to cross their lands? Sounds like these guys, and the camera people, are merely rehashing centuries old scams for making money without adding value.