I stumbled across this one in the news and it just seems pretty crazy.
apple.news
After reading through the story it doesn’t sound like there’s a whole lot of recourse for anybody…. and there’s always three sides to every story minimum… but where there’s smoke there’s usually fire.
Brookside, Ala. may only have 10 kilometres of roads, one store and a volunteer fire department, but its police force has an armoured truck; two police dogs; nine unmarked vehicles, seven of which have tinted windows all around; and an astonishing eagerness for ticketing its 1,253 residents and even unsuspecting passers-by on the highway.
When Police Chief Mike Jones took over in 2018, he was the only full-time person on the force. He quickly added nine full-time officers and several part-timers. He recently asked for six more to come on full time. The town now has one officer per 144 residents, compared with a U.S. average of one per 588. Spending on police has risen to $524,000 from $79,000 — a 560 per cent increase.
The officers wear no insignias on their grey uniforms and are not required to divulge their names on tickets or other materials. They go by “Agent KV” or “Agent AP,” according to their initials.
Anyway, the rest is at the link above in the story just gets weirder and weirder and weirder….
A force unto itself: How the police department in a tiny Alabama town overtickets its citizens — National Post
A new police chief has his officers allegedly ticketing drivers for offences they didn't commit or that don't exist
After reading through the story it doesn’t sound like there’s a whole lot of recourse for anybody…. and there’s always three sides to every story minimum… but where there’s smoke there’s usually fire.
Brookside, Ala. may only have 10 kilometres of roads, one store and a volunteer fire department, but its police force has an armoured truck; two police dogs; nine unmarked vehicles, seven of which have tinted windows all around; and an astonishing eagerness for ticketing its 1,253 residents and even unsuspecting passers-by on the highway.
When Police Chief Mike Jones took over in 2018, he was the only full-time person on the force. He quickly added nine full-time officers and several part-timers. He recently asked for six more to come on full time. The town now has one officer per 144 residents, compared with a U.S. average of one per 588. Spending on police has risen to $524,000 from $79,000 — a 560 per cent increase.
The officers wear no insignias on their grey uniforms and are not required to divulge their names on tickets or other materials. They go by “Agent KV” or “Agent AP,” according to their initials.
Anyway, the rest is at the link above in the story just gets weirder and weirder and weirder….
