Police revenue generating

[child of wonder]

I'm curious, does anyone know how much revenue a single officer can typically generate solely pulling people over in an 8 hour shift? How much more money does that officer garner in citations vs. his/her cost to the local government (salary, benefits, providing police car, gas, insurance, etc.)?

 

[Gibson486]

LEts see....

1 ticket is usually start round $250 (they go for the people who go really over)

5 in 1 week would yield $1250. That is more than I make in a week.

 

[ViviTheMage]

LEts see....

1 ticket is usually start round $250 (they go for the people who go really over)

5 in 1 week would yield $1250. That is more than I make in a week.

Yeah, this is all assumptions, let's wait for our local cop to chime in.. I forgot who is on AT, but he'll pop in hopefully.

 

[Gibson486]

Yeah, this is all assumptions, let's wait for our local cop to chime in.. I forgot who is on AT, but he'll pop in hopefully.

JLee?

 

[SphinxnihpS]

Profitizing crime is anti-selective. ...if the goal is to lesson or eliminate crime.

 

[Adrenaline]

I'm curious, does anyone know how much revenue a single officer can typically generate solely pulling people over in an 8 hour shift? How much more money does that officer garner in citations vs. his/her cost to the local government (salary, benefits, providing police car, gas, insurance, etc.)?

I had cops work part time with me in the past at other jobs. Here is how it works here:

If the cop gets a radar gun, they have to give out 10 tickets on that shift (no cop will admit this unless you know one). Most cops hate this, BUT they can go out to a parkway where people always speed and get this done in less than one hour. So, if they really wanted to generate revenue they could give out 80 tickets a shift and spread those out on court dates. The cop gets no extra money yet, but here is where they get it at......

They go to court. Some cops hang around court and work their OT in that way. Some have assigned court dates, but if you want more OT you give out so many tickets that you have to spread out the court dates. I have also heard that a cop gets a set amount of hours showing up to court, so if he/she has only two court cases that day, they show up and get paid their set amount of hours and are gone.

The cops around here do not seem to overly abuse this though, they get lucky and work extra shifts as they are apparently understaffed.

 

[TXHokie]

I just involuntary donated $150 for not wearing my seatbelt last week. Not bad for 5 minutes of work on the police officer's part I'd have to say.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

The question is "who gets the revenue"?

http://www.saccourt.ca.gov/traffic/fine-breakdown.aspx

* Base Fine set by legislation and the Judicial Council of California.
* Penalty Assessment: Penalty assessments are allocated for such items as court and jail facility construction and other items as noted below:
o $10.00 per $10/base fine per PC 1464 goes 70% to State Trial Court Trust Fund; 30% to County General Fund
o $2.00 per $10/base fine per GC 76100 goes to the County Courthouse Construction Fund
o $2.50 per $10/base fine per GC 76101 goes to the County Jail Construction Fund
o $0.50 per $10/base fine per GC 76102 goes to County Automated Fingerprint Fund
o $2.00 per $10/base fine per GC 76104 goes to Maddy Emergency Medical Fund (State/County split)
o $3.00 per $10/base fine per GC 70372.(a) goes to State Court Facilities Construction Fund
o $1.00 per $10/base fine per GC 76104.6 goes to the DNA Identification Fund (County/State split)
o $1.00 per $10/base fine per GC 76104.7 goes to the DNA Identification Fund (County/State split)
o $2.00 per $10/base fine per GC 70372(a) goes to the State Court Facilities Construction Fund - Immediate and Critical Needs Account
* Night Court Assessment Fee pursuant to VC 42006
* DMV record fee pursuant to Vehicle Code 40508.6
* Twenty percent criminal surcharge pursuant to Penal Code 1465.7
* Court Security Fee pursuant to Penal Code 1465.8
* Criminal Conviction Assessment pursuant to GC 70373 goes to the State Court Facilities Construction Fund - Immediate and Critical Needs Account (assessed per conviction)

You don't pay fines, you pay taxes.

 

[child of wonder]

I had cops work part time with me in the past at other jobs. Here is how it works here:

If the cop gets a radar gun, they have to give out 10 tickets on that shift (no cop will admit this unless you know one). Most cops hate this, BUT they can go out to a parkway where people always speed and get this done in less than one hour. So, if they really wanted to generate revenue they could give out 80 tickets a shift and spread those out on court dates. The cop gets no extra money yet, but here is where they get it at......

They go to court. Some cops hang around court and work their OT in that way. Some have assigned court dates, but if you want more OT you give out so many tickets that you have to spread out the court dates. I have also heard that a cop gets a set amount of hours showing up to court, so if he/she has only two court cases that day, they show up and get paid their set amount of hours and are gone.

The cops around here do not seem to overly abuse this though, they get lucky and work extra shifts as they are apparently understaffed.

That sounds like a lot of taxpayer expense. Let's assume an average officer gets 50 citations per day averaging $150 per citation.

That's $7,500 per day. A large chunk of that money must go to paying the officer, his/her benefits, the police car, insurance, courts, infrastructure for citizens to pay the ticket, etc. I would be amazed if $2,500 of the $7,500 is "profit" for the local government.

I'm just trying to figure out how much extra money does having officers who primarily perform traffic stops actually bring in. Is it actually worth it? I'm sure the officer didn't dream of becoming a cop hoping he could simply pull over speeders all day long.

Is there really such a significant and tangible benefit or is it marginal?

 

[EagleKeeper]

The question is "who gets the revenue"?

http://www.saccourt.ca.gov/traffic/fine-breakdown.aspx

* Base Fine set by legislation and the Judicial Council of California.
* Penalty Assessment: Penalty assessments are allocated for such items as court and jail facility construction and other items as noted below:
o $10.00 per $10/base fine per PC 1464 goes 70% to State Trial Court Trust Fund; 30% to County General Fund
o $2.00 per $10/base fine per GC 76100 goes to the County Courthouse Construction Fund
o $2.50 per $10/base fine per GC 76101 goes to the County Jail Construction Fund
o $0.50 per $10/base fine per GC 76102 goes to County Automated Fingerprint Fund
o $2.00 per $10/base fine per GC 76104 goes to Maddy Emergency Medical Fund (State/County split)
o $3.00 per $10/base fine per GC 70372.(a) goes to State Court Facilities Construction Fund
o $1.00 per $10/base fine per GC 76104.6 goes to the DNA Identification Fund (County/State split)
o $1.00 per $10/base fine per GC 76104.7 goes to the DNA Identification Fund (County/State split)
o $2.00 per $10/base fine per GC 70372(a) goes to the State Court Facilities Construction Fund - Immediate and Critical Needs Account
* Night Court Assessment Fee pursuant to VC 42006
* DMV record fee pursuant to Vehicle Code 40508.6
* Twenty percent criminal surcharge pursuant to Penal Code 1465.7
* Court Security Fee pursuant to Penal Code 1465.8
* Criminal Conviction Assessment pursuant to GC 70373 goes to the State Court Facilities Construction Fund - Immediate and Critical Needs Account (assessed per conviction)

You don't pay fines, you pay taxes.

But you can not deduct these taxes

 

[Demon-Xanth]

That sounds like a lot of taxpayer expense. Let's assume an average officer gets 50 citations per day averaging $150 per citation.

That's $7,500 per day. A large chunk of that money must go to paying the officer, his/her benefits, the police car, insurance, courts, infrastructure for citizens to pay the ticket, etc. I would be amazed if $2,500 of the $7,500 is "profit" for the local government.

I'm just trying to figure out how much extra money does having officers who primarily perform traffic stops actually bring in. Is it actually worth it? I'm sure the officer didn't dream of becoming a cop hoping he could simply pull over speeders all day long.

Is there really such a significant and tangible benefit or is it marginal?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Rome,_Ohio#New_Rome_speed_trap

New Rome police had systematically taken advantage of the village's sudden drop (from 45 mph to 35 mph) in posted speed along the busy thoroughfare of West Broad Street to pull over thousands of motorists, raising nearly $400,000 gross annually from speeding tickets but primarily vehicle citations including trivial offenses such as dusty taillights and improperly tinted windows. Nearly all of this money was funneled back into the police force, which almost exclusively dealt with traffic violations and so essentially existed to fund itself. The 60-resident village had as many as 14 policemen (all part-time), with the Village Council wanting more.

 

[child of wonder]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Rome,_Ohio#New_Rome_speed_trap

That's completely ridiculous. A police department should not exist to fund itself.

The $400,000 is obviously lining someone's pockets which is why they want it to expand.

 

[Fritzo]

Around here (and I'd say in most major cities), police directives are not to issue tickets to generate income, it's to protect and make sure saftey is enforced. For things like parking tickets and speeding, we have special divisions and cameras dedicated to that.

Small towns may generate income like this though.