This has led the afflicted municipalities to do the things that you'd expect an entity with cash-flow issues do: cut services, attempt to increase fees and/or taxes, lay-off employees. Rational, responsible steps that everyone can probably be alright with. However, Denham Springs mayor Jimmy Durbin and police chief Jeff Wesley have a better idea: let's turn the police department in to a money making organization!!
Denham Springs Mayor, Jimmy Durbin
Now...those with heavy right feet have long held that speeding tickets are simply revenue vehicles for political subdivisions. I am former law enforcement, and I do have a heavy right foot, but I don't fully agree with that position. I think that traffic enforcement does have a legitimate public safety component and that most agencies utilize it as such. Of course, some sh*thole Louisiana towns will gig you for 1 mile per hour over the limit (which, I'd be willing to bet, is well within the margin of error for most speedometers), which tells you right then and there that safety isn't why they're writing you...most places, I've noticed, give enough leeway for traffic to move along and not get anyone's hackles up. (As a side note to this rant, Louisiana State Rep. Hollis Downs of Ruston, LA, proposed limiting the take on traffic tickets in last year's legislative session...of course, small town mayors came out against quite vocally.)
Now, speeding tickets are one thing, but what Jimmy and Jeff are doing is an absolute abomination. I'm not sure how it is in the rest of the United States, but vehicle inspection stickers, in the state of Louisiana, are a joke. It's like "hey boy, hit ya horn, turn on ya lights and show me ya blinkers...oh yeah, step on your brakes and gimme $12--here's ya sticker..." And that's a THOROUGH inspection. The Motor Vehicle Inspection, in the state of Louisiana, is simply a $12 tax you pay, yearly, to operate a vehicle on the public roads. Here's the fun part--the TICKET for having an expired inspection sticker is $135. Cute huh...
Well, you certainly know where I'm headed, don't you?
That's right...Jimmy and Jeff are writing TONS of expired MVI tickets. And they're not just focusing on paying more attention to who's driving around with an expired MVI...they're actually dedicating up to 100% of the departments "on shift" resources to establishing MVI ROADBLOCKS (they call them "checkpoints," but checkpoint implies that they don't disrupt the flow of traffic...which they do).
So, let's see...teenagers going down Weeping Willow Drive (a 25 MPH zone) at 75...where are the cops? At the old Winn-Dixie, making money...
Idiots running the redlight at Hatchell Drive and US 190...and the cops are where? Yeah--At the Winn-Dixie, writing those high-dollar MVI tix...
One day, it's going to be: Three guys, armed to the teeth, knocking over the Regions Bank on Range....why did they get WELL away before the cops got there? Gee--they were hemmed in, writing MVI tickets downtown...
Okay--that was probably a little too extreme. But the point I'm getting at is--the people in Denham Springs, LA, pay their taxes and expect SERVICE from the municipal government. They don't WANT or DESERVE to have the city employ public safety officials as fund-raisers because the city is in a crack, financially. It's "Protect and Service," not "Protect and Collect."
If you read this and it gets you a little pissed, especially if you live in Denham Springs and it gets you a little pissed, here are Jimmy and Jeff's contact information...give 'em a call and or shoot 'em an email and let 'em know how you feel.
Mayor Jimmy Durbin
225.665.8121
jimmydurbin@bellsouth.net
Chief Jeff Wesley
225.665.5106
Contact Form can be found here!
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