Quote Originally Posted by Aloha_Shooter View Post
Reminds me of the ticket I got on I-95 going back to DC from Florida after Christmas. The state trooper said I had a taillight out. I said I just noticed that at my last gas stop but hadn't been able to get a replacement and would do so the next day when an auto parts store was open. I still got a ticket for "defective equipment" ($50-75 IIRC). Of course he knew I wasn't going to drive back down to Richmond to contest the ticket after looking at a DL with a Fairfax address. Being military didn't help any either; I guess it was too far past Desert Storm and 9/11 hadn't happened yet.
Reminds me of all the VA tags that would routinely go missing after accumulating enough parking tickets in the District. Maryland wouldn't let us get away with it, but I guess the private property tax in the commonwealth was high enough to cover replacing tags. Besides, everyone in DC knew that out of state tags were there just to issue parking tickts...it was the off-the-books DC commuter tax that the City Council could never get past Congress.

As time goes by, there is less and less discretion allowed to individual officers. You can see it in all of the demands to see a supervisor. If the supervisor needs to come handle more and more, why let the officers make any actual decisions. Crap rolls down hill, so when the supervisors, who you never see, demand to know you are actually working, and not parked in some parking lot, the simple method is to demand the production of paperwork. If that paperwork also generates revenue, so much the better. Most officers know how to stretch the mandatory stuff out and keep their supervisors off their backs and in a semi-stupefied state of satisfaction.

Every job has its peculiarities and irritations.

Be safe.