Originally published January 16 2015
NYPD work stop proves that police exist to collect revenue for state, not protect citizens
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) Most Americans are supportive of law enforcement and will readily admit that, without police officers, there could be no civil society, because there are too many elements who would use a lack of authority to prey upon innocent people.
That said, however, many Americans also believe that modern-day policing, in large part, has turned into a money-generation racket, as cops are increasingly forced to use their powers and the law to help cash-strapped jurisdictions fill their coffers.
There is a mounting body of evidence to suggest that those notions are not at all unfounded.
A recent story published by The New York Post is emblematic of the concern that local police agencies are at least sometimes deployed as revenue-generation forces.
The paper reported:
At precincts across the city, top brass are cracking the whip on summons activity and even barring many cops from taking vacation and sick days, The Post has learned.
Throughout the city, precincts are being ordered to hand up to borough commanders "activity sheets" indicating the number of arrests and summonses per shift, sources told The Post.
"Police officers around the city are now threatened with transfers, no vacation time and sick time unless they write summonses," one union source said.
"This is the same practice that caused officers to be labeled racist and abusers of power."
"This is not what we're out here for"
The move is being tied to a recent police "slowdown," prompted by NYPD cops' anger over comments made by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio following a grand jury decision recently not to level criminal charges against city officers in the death of Eric Garner, a black man who sold single cigarettes on the street who died resisting arrest last summer.
After the grand jury announcement, de Blasio said Garner's death was "profoundly personal" to him, adding that because of dangers that his mixed-race son, Dante, "may face, we've had to literally train him... in how to take special care in any encounter he has with the police officers who are there to protect him."
That led to harsh criticism from the Patrolman's Benevolent Association, and to cops in the Big Apple to essentially stop writing tickets and summonses. As such, according the Post's sources, NYPD brass are attempting to counter that with what appear to be arrest and summonses quotas. The Post reported earlier that NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton ordered officers back on the job after a 90-percent drop in ticket-writing (and the resultant revenue that figure represents).
"Everyone here is under orders -- no time off" during the summons catch-up blitz, one officer at the 105th Precinct in Queens told the paper.
"And the majority of [new] summonses written aren't protecting the public in any way," he continued. "But now they're realizing how much revenue the city is losing and they're enforcing their will upon us."
Creating "new revenue streams"
The order from Bratton hit street level immediately, the Post said. One lieutenant at the 105th Precinct ordered officers to converge on an intersection and not to return until two summonses had been issued.
"To have all the manpower utilized for the sole purpose of writing summonses is a very dangerous way to utilize manpower," the officer said. "This is not what we're out here for."
Many city budgets were ravaged by the Great Recession of 2007-2008. In response, The Police Chief magazine, in its June 2010 issue, published a set of recommendations aimed at helping create "new revenue streams" for local governments.
Some of them include:
-- Fees for sex offenders who register in a given jurisdiction;
-- Boost all fines 50 percent;
-- Create a police department-run online traffic school for minor traffic infractions;
-- Create a department-based security service including home checks and monitoring of security cameras by police department;
-- Implement state and court fees for all convicted felons returning to the community;
-- 9-1-1 "fee per use" charge;
-- Tax or fee on all ammunition sold in the city;
-- Sell police ride-alongs to the general public.
Sources:
http://market-ticker.org
http://nypost.com
http://abcnews.go.com
http://nypost.com
http://www.policechiefmagazine.org
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