tempests4

First, the whole point of my original e-mail was to trigger a conversation about being issued essentially an anonymous ticket since 1. I was never parked at the location the ticket was issued and 2. wasn't pulled over.

Anyway, it's not the first time I've been issued a bogus ticket, but it has always been parked, and therefore at least attributable to a somewhat over-eager meter maid.

I therefore assumed that, in contrast to a poorly paid, poorly trained meter maid with a supervisor hanging over their every move, a well paid cop with presumably better perspective on life, might have seen my car, came to a conclusion about the validitiy of my tag and just issued a ticket. Since the only place my car would have been seen @ that location is in moving traffic, I formed the lazy cop hypothesis. (I have also confirmed that an actual officer issued the ticket.)

So, I was also looking for opinions if tickets issued under my hypothesis are legal.

Note: I've lived in the city, the actual, near south side, my entire life and have seen some pretty outrageous things perpetrated by the police. As a generally law-abiding person, the fact that my run-ins have been more unplesant than plesant is unfortunately more common than not regardless of one's race. I think I'm entitled to my opinion, as is everyone else. I also wouldn't generally say the same thing if just asked about my opinion of the police, but I was being a little dramatic to make a point.

Again, there are clear, irrefutable errors in the ticket that guarantee dismissal, so it's not the money. I can also appreciate the opinions that I deserve the ticket. That wasn't the point of the post. But since it seems to be what people want to post about...

There's a right way and a wrong way for instruments of the government to do their jobs. With the preponderance of technology turning government into nothing more than an all-seeing eye in the sky where everything is black or white, instances where an officer has a chance to interact with the people he works for, but decides it's too much trouble, is really sad.

Ever contest a late fee? At blockbuster? Why bother? If it's late, it's late. Wife had a baby, mom died, flight got in late? Who cares? IT'S LATE.

The thought that somehow everyone that doesn't meet the letter of every law somehow deserves to get fined wouldn't make for a very nice place to live. BUT IT'S A GREAT WAY TO BUILD REVENUE. Honestly, if people were just fined automatically for minor infractions, we probably wouldn't need an income tax. Would anyone really prefer that?

-Jay

BTW, I salute DaveyKid for his stance on city stickers. I see so many WI and MI plates in my hood, I sometimes forget I live in Chicago.

DaveyKid

Gotcha. I guess we just have different perspectives. Neither wrong.

skabaru

You can and likely will get out of the ticket by simply showing that you have already gotten the ticket and put it on your vehicle, thereby making you compliant. Hell, I once was 8 months past due on my sticker, got pulled over, got a ticket. Then went, got the sticker, and went to court, judge tossed it.

Obviously I was well aware of the situation, and made a conscience decision to NOT remedy the problem. That being said, I didn't pitch a fit about it when I got the ticket. I didn't go around bad mouthing the officers that did their job, and I didn't go around make gross generalizations about police.

I stood up and took responsibility for my actions.

While I can't attest to the errors on the ticket, since you only just mentioned them, I am sure you can, provided you carry yourself better in the courtroom than you did here in this thread, get this ticket dismissed without any problem.

You don't have to be pulled over by a cop to be given a ticket. You don't have to be parked to get a ticket.

Regardless of the logistics, you did knowingly break the rules and you are now bad mouthing the police for enforcing such a rule. And then, at the same time you are badmouthing the police when you call them and ask them to enforce ANOTHER rule (the car in the alley story) so it seems you are just being whiney.

Thems the rules. Do I agree with them? Not always. But I have to follow them. Do I have a problem paying for city stickers and plates and all that? No. Do I think that the enforcement method is dumb? Sure, I have posted on it before. It would seem to me that A) you have a list of the people with cars and B) you know where they live. Send them a bill. Make them pay it. But making them put a sticker on the car then hire people to walk around and check those stickers is absurd. Just have a computer spit out the names of those that haven't paid and send them a bill. Done.

But that wasn't the point. I was basically going for the 'take responsilbity for your own screw up' more than anything else.