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twitterPolice write more than 2,000 tickets in speed crackdown
Friday, March 27, 2009 | 4:06 p.m.
Southern Nevada police agencies performing saturation patrols to nab speeders issued 2,036 citations in the first two weeks of March, the Nevada Department of Public Safety said today.
Officers from the Metro, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Boulder City and Mesquite police departments joined with the Nevada Highway Patrol and sheriff's offices in Lincoln and Nye counties for the crackdown.
Henderson Police issued the most citations, with 635. Nevada Highway Patrol followed with 432; Mesquite Police issued 320 and the other agencies issued 200 or fewer.
The operation was funded by Joining Forces, a Nevada Department of Public Safety program that funded overtime hours for participating officers.
The 2,036 citations issued this year more than doubled the 880 tickets written during last year's event. The citations were written by officers participating specifically in the Joining Forces Program and do not include those handed out through regular traffic enforcement.
Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Honea attributed the dramatic increase to the participation of more officers and a better focus on problem areas.
"This is our most high-profile speed enforcement campaign," Honea said. "The goal is to increase awareness of the problems we see throughout this valley and throughout this state with drivers exceeding posted speed limits."
Henderson Police spokesman Todd Rasmussen said the patrol's goal was simple. "We want everybody to slow down and keep our roadways safe," he said.
Honea said the No. 1 complaint the Highway Patrol receives is from people reporting bad drivers and complaining that no troopers are there to stop them. The No. 2 complaint, he said, is from people asking why patrolmen issue so many tickets.
"It's a hot-button issue," he said.
The saturation speed patrol was a kickoff event for this year's Joining Forces activities, Honea said. There will be more events focusing on speed enforcement and other traffic laws. In May, he said, Joining Forces will do saturation patrols to enforce seat belt laws.
Jeremy Twitchell can be reached at 990-8928 or jeremy.twitchell@lasvegassun.com.
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These guys have been all over I-215. I drive like a grandma from GVR to Rainbow now. So this plan must be working.
I wanna thank the state cop that stopped me for going way too fast comming down from Cali 2 years ago and let me off with and infraction becuase I had Punk Band DRI Tattoo on my shoulder and I was comming into town for the UFC fight...
sounds like a good way to balance the budget
Why do they have to pay overtime for the enforcement? Can't they do it on straight time? What are they doing during the day/evening that requires overtime? Chasing ice cream trucks? It's not like Henderson is a crime infested hellhole.
The want to up the road tax collection. Time to contact your elected representitives and let them know you won't stand for this.
bdover, I went to a beer festival at LLV and who had a speed trap set up going into and leaving LLV, you guessed it the loafers of the HPD. No wonder nobody goes to LLV. I will not go back for a very long time. By the way, the speed traps were set up at the entrances just off Lake Mead Blvd. Way to go HPD, I guess that new substation cost a mint.
HIGHWAY patrol, you know the misdemeanor cops in a felony world, didn't write that many, in fact they had about 200 less. These guys patrol the highways for heavens sake.
Metro, who uses motorcycle police to hunt in wolf packs, didn't even write very many.
HPD you must be so proud you won the ticket contest, what does that get you? Free donuts for a year?
Speed crackdown, ya right. It's all about generating revenue.
pukiee, getalife, Lenny_V -- What you all said is right on.
Traffic tickets have always been about revenue collection, not safety, and many municipalities depend on it to keep their budgets fat. After all speeders don't exactly show up en masse at city budget meetings to kill new tax proposals.
As a resident of Henderson, I am embarrassed and ashamed of our police department. I guess there is no real crime here and nothing else for them to do. Maybe there should be a layoff of some officers, which might result in fewer ice cream truck drivers being executed on our streets. At least put the officers with nothing useful to do to work cleaning up graffiti and picking up litter. Shame on the Henderson Police Department.
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Speeding has not gotten any worse in the last year. The economy has gotten worse. This is nothing more than local law enforcement generating revenue. If Metro's pay raise is shot down(all other local law enforcement agencies negotiate off of Metro's pay rate), get ready for a full force fell the pain campaign. The goal will be for every resident to fell the wrath in the form of petty, but expensive ticket for not upping Metro's budget.
I was stopped for allegedly speeding when I know 100% I was not. The cop on a bike waited to see who was driving, before peeling out and stopping me. I don't ever use the race card bit on this occasion, it was blatantly racial. When I argued with the cop he "upped" my speed which enrages me to the point that I will say this... If I saw a cop in trouble, I would not stop to help him what so ever. They have confirmed the mentality of "us" against "them". We are defenseless in many ways because when a cop says "we" the public did something, they are instantly believed. It is assumed that they must be speaking the truth at all times. BULL!
If the city was so concerned about our safety, then why do they make it so easy for an Attorney to pay off our debt and reduce the violation to a parking ticket? I'm sure a lot of traffic safety was learned by the offending driver!! If this method worked, then wouldn't we see a steady reduction in tickets issued from year to year already?
Cops remind me of highway robbers of old. "Your money or your life" was the cry then, now it's "your money or jail" since you can't refuse to sign their stupid ticket summons.
It's time we banded together as citizens, road users etc to stop this practice. We pay their salaries and it's an insult to think they get over time to sit on their donut filled behinds to demand money from someone driving 5 mph over a sign posted on a street in the middle of nowhere when there are no other cars for miles around. Where's the danger???
I'd rather get a ticket from a speed camera trap because you get a sign to warn you they are there in operation, at least it's fair, unbiased and there's proof and a picture to go with it that is sent to you by mail. No high speed chases to further endanger other drivers.
Shame on the Police for their multitude of sins whilst in Uniform. To hell with the lot of them! They are all hypocrites anyway. I've seen cops weave thru traffic, speed without their lights on and turn without signaling. I wish we could issue citizens tickets for those infractions.
I'm done!
And MatB, wait until they get the right to stop you for not wearing a seatbelt. How can you protest? It's your word against the donut devourer and the judge, who probably eat together at Pt's once a week. Of course, people forget that these cops are simply high school educated dopes who went into the military and then got a military preference on the police exam. And don't tell me they're heroes for being in the military. What if they were in the Navy or Coast Guard? Of course, if they were real heroes, they wouldn't get away with shooting a female ice cream vendor dead. A disgrace...
Of course it is being done to increase government revenue.
I am OK with it.
Do not speed and you will not get a ticket.
That's a whole lot of jury trials. LOL
to jfnance32, I don't mind getting a ticket "IF" I'm speeding. I'm grumbling about the fact that all Cops are not honest and we have no recourse if they want to make up stuff about you.
It's easy to sit somewhere and ticket any motorist they please. Do we have a device in our cars that we can use in court to argue with. NO! It's our word against theirs and we are all born liars right?
If you are OK getting fined left right and center, then send me your money!
to redsoxwin: my wife drove by just after the Ice Cream lady incident at the actual time it took place. It is still shocking to this day that cops can get away with slayings like that and many others. They are big fat cowards that are only good for nothing. They won't go in if there is a real incident instead electing to hide behind their cars. SWAT has to be called in because your average flat foot cop has no training.
More and more cops are an absolute disgrace to their oath and badge. The excuse that there are only a few bad ones is not good enough when people's lives are in the balance. They stick together like poop calling themselves brothers and twist situations to make themselves look good.
Give someone a whistle and they think they are the business, give someone a gun and a badge...
how about instead of speeders you catch some murders or solve some cases?
oh, wait...that would be WORK. much easier to sit in an air conditioned car all day and pull over cars hoping it's some hot girl.
i'm sorry, but there is a ridiculous amount of convenience store robberies in this town and where are all the cops?
sitting on the highway.
Nevada has been named the MOST DANGEROUS STATE for the 6th year in a row! You can't tell me those cops have nothing better to do than issue speeding tickets!! They need to get off their lazy behinds and start truly working to make this horrible town a safer place to live. And here's a tip....it's not the speeders who are making it dangerous.
The cops should focus on the most dangerous and crowded streets and not on some low volume unincorporated roads.
Don't get me wrong people, there are probably good cops out there and we need them, but most are like a wasted resource which need better organization and work ethic.
There would be no such thing as "cop no go areas" because crime is so rampant. Well I know of at least 20 cops who seem to be sitting around doing nothing but handing out tickets with much macho bravado in my area alone. I guess the $200,000 in ticket revenue in the 1st 2 weeks of March alone is far to important to turn a blind eye too. Screw solving crime and really keeping us safe. Leeches is a word that comes to mind, Vampires another.
It worries me greatly that many cops are from military background where all they are taught to do is kill, kill and kill! Now you dress these guys in a different uniform, arm them and set them loose on the public. It just seems wrong to me when vets have so many personal problems carried over from their tours of duty. Most never acclimate back into society and are changed forever by their combat experiences. Returning vets have the highest suicide rates at the moment...
How else can you explain the cops killing an Ice Cream lady, the guy on the strip who was asked to turn his music down on a Sat night, the teen who tried to run off in handcuffs, the kid on the subway (caught on camera thank God) and many other cases all over the country?
How does it go, "to serve and protect", the question is who?
I hate people who go through red lights just as much as the next person. With all the technology out there, you'd think they could do something about it with all that loot they collect from speeders.
Red light runners are a hell of a lot more dangerous than someone going 5-10 mph over an arbitrary number posted on a sign.
I'd be a lot more willing to go along with a ticket if say the cop pointed his speed gun at me and it automatically took a picture of my vehicle with the recorded speed posted underneath. I'd have no argument and I'd go pay up.
To be "told" that I was doing "so and so" a speed with no proof is not enough. It's always going to be my word against his. The Law assumes that I am a liar from the get go because a turd in uniform says so. I pay my taxes and their salaries for what? To be called a liar!! The same person they'd come to if I witnessed a crime that would benefit the police case. Then my word would be good enough. Well this is unacceptable by a long way freakin' way people.
Where does all that revenue go anyway?
Just thought of something, MatB. I drive around Henderson daily, and I've never seen a minority officer. Granted there may be some light skinned Hispanics on the force, but have you ever seen a black officer in Henderson? I haven't. Just fat butt rednecks. There was some sort of bike race at Lake Las Vegas today, traffic was backed up for miles, and all I saw was Tahoes all over the place. With 20 somethings with vests screwing up traffic. All white. Wonder if we shouldn't ask the all white city council why this is so. The cops want that last 1/4% of the sales tax, and sent the ex-chief, at 120G a year for 2 years, to Carson City to lobby for the money. For what? I just wonder if the EEOC realizes that the City of Henderson is like some good old boy places. Like Selma, Alabama....
I will not vote for an increase in police pay, because in this city all they do is write hard working citizens tickets as they drive to work.
The 'worker bees' of society have always been preferred 'crackdown' targets for police fundraisers, typically contributing to the cause with minimal resistance.
A never ending revenue stream as easy to pluck as a street vendor perched upon the curb with a .40-caliber Glock.
Yay great story! Cops doing their job! <rolls eyes>
You know the police have been doing a bad job when the press actually makes a story that they're "going to work a little harder".
I used to be neutral about cops, I even had respect for them once a upon a time. They have gradually eroded any sentiment I may have felt in their favor over the years to the point where I now actually despise them and treat them with 100% suspicion. It's not the uniform but the imperfect & biased human being in the uniform whom I have come to revile.
to redsoxwin: I have seen a cop or 2 of color (not sure which jurisdiction) but that for me has nothing to do with it. They are all like peons with their orders to go out and write some tickets. Dare they come back with none? I think not. Dare they go solve a crime instead and ignore those orders... I think not! Cops always deny they have a quota to fill each month which makes them all liars.
With the economy being as bad as it is, you'd think the damned City would ease off and give people some breathing room. I'm not talking about an idiot driving at 80 mph in a 35 or speeding through a school zone. But for crying out loud, 5-10 mph over the limit in every day traffic!
What I find more dangerous is the way a cop parks half way out in the street or where ever he/she likes with total disregard for traffic flow or safety whilst making a stop. Not only that, but if you argue with them during a stop, they go all "personal" on you and take a really lengthy time to write the ticket. Another job well done by our "city's finest". Who gave them that title...not me?! Save that for the Nurses and firemen who really make a positive impact on our lives.
And they have the audacity to call my home and ask for money for the Policeman's this or that. I tell them they already got it by writing me a ticket and hang up. Have you ever heard of Nurses stooping to call us at home asking for money? Shame! shame! shame!
Well since they're not going to legalize marijuana anytime soon, guess this is the new revenue stream. To not get a ticket of course means slowing down. There's a brilliant, cool, new device for your GPS that will help you avoid getting speeding tickets. Also you can log the speed traps you know about to help others be on the lookout. To check it out, go here and scroll down to Accessories/Parts @ http://spacyber.tripod.com/id32.html
I have no problem with 'speed busters' doing there job (as long as they are being fair and not punitive)...
but what comes next when every one slows down?
How are they going to collect the needed revenues to support police departments?
This county is so screwed right now... and this is not going to solve the problem... just alienate the public...
i've posted this many times before on related stories, but for months and months in the spring / summer of 2007 there was almost always a motorcycle cop sitting on warm springs just west of buffalo.
at that time there was NOTHING within a 1/8 mile of that location until you got to durango / warm springs and he would hide behind the construction equipment they were using to build an office building right there just west of buffalo on warm springs.
when the building finally got built, he had nowhere to hide so he finally moved on.
anyway...
there would be this cop sitting there on his motorcycle for hours and hours and hours at least 3 times per week waiting to catch a speeder.
i'm a realtor and i work that part of town and i'd pass this guy 4 or 5 times in the same day, at the same spot.
is there NOTHING else this cop could have been doing with his time than sitting in the middle of nowhere?
and here's the funny thing...
warm springs is a 2 lane road right there and it's really bumpy and has those tight little hills that you will bottom out your car on if you are going too fast AND there is a 4 way stop sign at buffalo and warm springs not 200 feet from where this cop was always at.
so...it made it virtually impossible for ANYONE going westbound on warm springs to be going fast enough to be more than maybe 5 miles over the speed limit when they passed this cop and that makes me think all the tickets he wrote there were nothing more than revenue generators.
and that is why i just hate cops now. they really don't protect us. that's just their p.r. campaign.
So what's next you ask for revenue?
Read and be fore warned as this sting is probably coming to a road near you anytime soon...
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global /story.asp?S=10084891
and then there's this, Cop hits a car with kids in it sending them to hospital. You tell me what you think as words just fail me!
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story....
sorry links aren't allowed from lasvegasnow.com/Global so I'll cut 'n' paste for you.
1) Police Use Crosswalk Sting to Bust Drivers
North Las Vegas Police officers want to put the brakes on motorists who fail to stop for pedestrians at crosswalks. Friday they held a crosswalk sting operation on Las Vegas Boulevard to nab those drivers who fail to stop, and they handed out a lot of tickets.
North Las Vegas Police put on the crosswalk stings about seven times a year, and every time they give out nearly 300 tickets because drivers just won't stop for people crossing.
North Las Vegas Police Sergeant Dave Smith acted as pedestrian Friday. His target was drivers who fail to stop at the crosswalk. He's the bait in this crosswalk sting and anybody who fails to stop while he's crossing gets nabbed
"Once I step in, I own the crosswalk, I own the road. If they don't stop, or fail to yield, I have nine officers here and they'll pull them over and give them a ticket," he said. "It reminds me of the old game Frogger. You watch the pedestrians out here and they're trying to dodge cars to get across the street."
The trap worked. Driver after driver is caught red handed for failing to yield and most with the same excuse, "I was not really paying attention at all."
"They are just being impatient. They're not waiting for people. But, it causes fatal accidents," said Sgt. Smith.
The reason for the crosswalk sting is to remind drivers that pedestrians have the right of way in crosswalks, "When a pedestrian is in the roadway, you're required to yield to them until they are over your half of the road. Until they reach the median, the turn lane, or whatever the case may be, you're required to stop."
Sergeant Smith says it's a problem that needs to be addressed before it gets worse. Crosswalk stings and a $300 ticket will hopefully make motorists think twice when they see the white lines.
The NLVPD has been doing crosswalk stings for seven years now, and they say it's helping. Last year they didn't have any pedestrian fatalities and this year they're off to a good start with no fatalities.
2) 2 children injured in collision with police car
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Two children were hospitalized after a Las Vegas police car struck the car they were riding in.
Police say a 7-year-old boy suffered serious injuries and a 4-year-old girl suffered moderate injuries in the Friday night collision.
Authorities say the police car struck a Pontiac driven by 32-year-old Leilani Hoe as Hoe made a left turn through an intersection in west Las Vegas. Hoe suffered minor injuries.
Authorities did not release the name of the driver of the police car. They say the incident is under investigation.
Some very good points made here.
MatB -- you are right on about the pictures.
To prove how utterly biased and flimsy these kinds of prosecutions are, I've proven over and over again the Rules of Evidence do NOT allow SMD (Speed Measuring Device) "evidence" to be used in court under time-honored hearsay and best/satisfactory evidence standards. Every time the judge has yawned in the defendant's face and pronounced him/her guilty. The police agencies and city/county/district attorney (if one is even involved) refuse to produce any evidence whatsoever, starting with the actual SMD's operator's manual and certification/maintenance log. Typically all they will produce is the officer's claim the unit had been tested and was working properly at the time.
Good reason for this -- one manual showed just running the heater or A/C motor will give a false reading. Rain will produce a false reading on a laser unit, and so on.
It is a racket to forcibly extract revenue (mostly from people who did nothing wrong and can't afford to pay this new debt created out of thin air with the stroke of a "judge's" pen) and keep the predators funded. Count the "courts" as predators. All in the name of the People and keeping them "safe."
redsoxwin -- you got that one right. Wait until the law is passed about driving while using a cell phone.
jfnance32 -- so you're OK with that, along with the rest of the sheep who call themselves citizens. I'd personally like to hear what you'd have to say after an experience like MatB and a few others have had. You can just keep up with the rest of the herd driving more dangerously than all the speeders en masse, since you're too busy watching your speedometers to be sure you're "obeying" the law.
The hopeless economy is exposing many truths of the excessive greed that has been institutionalized in government and corporate entities for years. Use fear and punishment and cowing of the people in every way imaginable. They tax you from the moment you are born to the moment you die and beyond just for the privileged of being alive. I challenge you to show me an example of a true democracy (holding up a repressive regime as an opposite example or questioning my patriotism doesn't make it any more democratic to live here). So really to me there is no such thing as a democracy. We are only free in a limited sense of the word.
One of these days the people will wake up. It happened before in the French Revolution and will happen again in the American revolution. You can only push people so far before one day we all say "enough is enough". the greedy make every effort to hang on to power to suck the life out of us. Ticketing is only a splinter in our eye, but it hurts as much as a Madoff stunt when you have no job, no future and a family to feed, cloth and support.
Yes I do keep my speed down. I don't drive like some 18 year old in a hot rod. I am responsible, never had an accident and I'm courteous on the road. What more do you want?!
And our wonderful cops keep on screwing up! You must have heard of the family rushing to get to the bedside of a dying relative who only had minutes to live and the cop won't let them go into the hospital. Even the Police commander is embarrassed by the actions of Officer Robert Powell. Unbelievable!!
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/p...
Just imagine if this was you in a life or death situation...
The Officer has apologized but what needs examining is that cops are supposed to be serving us. How do we end up as the evil enemy for some of the smallest infractions? We are human, we are far from perfect and we are going to make mistakes every single day. Do we need to have the attack dogs on us every time that happens? I think not. How about training officers to understand their role in society and teach them some customer service skills. Protect and Serve!
OK I stand somewhat corrected, the cop who went in alone to save the elderly folks from the lunatic gunman...is a HERO! He didn't wait for back up and got shot in the gunfire exchange. That's what I call a real Policeman.
Now if the 99% of cops who do nothing but sit and wait to catch people in traffic minor violations could follow his example...