Tickets!

Pheonix

It's true. Cops get paid decently. Some would even argue not enough for the violence that some cities display. I have absolutely no idea what life in Canada is like, and to be honest I haven't got the energy to check right now, so I don't dare pontificate on what you and your cops face. I have no idea how your officers are used in your neck of the woods.

Down here, in this state and I suspect many other stations throughout the US, in each precinct you've got ward officers, assigned to handle various portions of their own little slice of the city. Some of those officers do nothing but answer calls. Another portion of those are what you may call task force; e.g. drug raids, warrant pick-ups, fugitive hunts, etc. Maybe this is what you would consider the returned investment. Lord knows simple domestics get redundant. Finally, a much, much smaller (and I do much much smaller) section of officers do nothing but check radar. There's nothing else for them to do. Calls are being handled. Raids are being carried out. The officer must do something. He either patrols the streets (I'm sure this pleases the average citizen) or he looks for traffic violations.

You might be astounded to discover how many American criminals will ride around speeding or driving in an otherwise reckless manner. An amazing number of fugitives are caught doing nothing more than breaking the speed limit. Traffic stops are kinda good at that, too. Wouldn't you like to get a criminal off the street, by any means necessary? Look at the sheer amount of Spike clips showing fugitives being apprehended on traffic stops, and you see what I mean. In short: traffic stops are for far more than speeding, and it could even be argued they themselves are a full return of investment.

As to your additional points, I agree. A fair amount of officers let it go to their heads. What can ya do? You instigate him, and you only add to your charges. Yeah, you can fight 'em in court, but at the point of initiation, he's got the upper hand and your not going to change that by pissing him off. It may not be right, but that's the fact. A lot of others are hard-working family men and women like you or I, who happen to carry a badge and a gun. Its like calling all movie theater employees ******** cuz the one kicked you out after catching you sneaking in food. (Maybe thats a local thing, I dunno if Canadians are allowed to bring in outside food). Maybe a bad analogy

Finally, I really don't know of very many extraneous abuses of taser power. The only ones I see are the ones who wind up on CNN, and at least in the case of the old lady who was tased...well, she refused a directive to stay put so the officer could check her, and wandered back to her vehicle where who knows what was waiting. Officers have been killed that way. It was a hard judgement call, but he made it. As far as anything else...well, lets see. Nightstick abuse? Check out Rodney King and what happened to his officers. And don't let an officer discharge his weapon for anything other than a legitimate reason. There goes the career, and likely every dollar he'll ever make. Even if it's ruled a justified shooting, the chances of a lawsuit are still great.

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"The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being." - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn