Traffic cops haging out at 6th and Mc Bride

[Dex]

[quote=“MiG”]I don’t know about this particular officer, but it’s been well established here on HTMF that in the past:

• Prince Rupert RCMP wrote a disproportionate number of tickets compared to other locations (ie: Terrace).

• Prince Rupert RCMP had a number of officers that were funded by ticket revenue, while other locations (ie: Terrace) use the ticket revenue for other projects (community policing, crime prevention). Hence the incentive to write more tickets in Rupert.[/quote]

There doesn’t appear to be an abundance of Police Officers in Rupert, so it seems to me this added revenue is going to a good cause.

@MiG

• Prince Rupert RCMP would “stretch” the definitions of certain offences to write more tickets. ie: you had to stop for a certain amount of time at a stop sign, or you’d get a ticket. Or you’d be given a ticket for failing to signal, even when there was no traffic. Most people wouldn’t fight these bogus tickets that the officers felt free to write as many of them as they could.

BC Motor Vehicle Act:

Definitions

119 (1) In this Part:

“stop” or “stand” means,

(a) when required, a complete cessation from movement, and

(b) when prohibited, the stopping or standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or to comply with the directions of a peace officer or traffic control device;

What is there to stretch? They either came to a complete cessation from movement or they did not. If the officer wrote something on the ticket about not stopping for a “certain amount of time”, you wouldn’t even get a court date if you fought it. And if you don’t use your signals because you thought there was " no traffic around" then you deserve a ticket!! The BC Motor Vehicle Act does not become automatically amended when there is no traffic on the roads. Not to mention there WAS traffic on the road or they would not have received a ticket!!! If you did not commit the traffic offense and did not attempt to fight it…complain?

@MiG

• There was no doubt in my mine that Prince Rupert RCMP were told (either by the City or by their leadership) to write as many tickets as possible to generate revenue.

Which apparently gave us more Police Officers. Listening to the police scanner from this town it sounds like they need them.

@MiG

• Prince Rupert RCMP once wrote a ticket to a guy who was rushing to the hospital because his wife was in labour. Thanks to that particular officer, the man missed the birth of his child by a few minutes.

If the man was speeding it was a good thing he was stopped. His situation likely impaired his driving ability and could have been a danger to himself and/or others by speeding to the hospital. I’ll leave that judgement call to the officer. You wouldn’t accept that defense if he ran over someone would you?

@MiG

• Prince Rupert RCMP, on multiple occasions, used multiple undercover officers with radios to “stake out” a stop sign, and gave anyone who didn’t stop for a certain length of time a ticket.

I would really like to see what the Officers wrote on these tickets. Anyone have any copies left?

@MiG

• Prince Rupert RCMP essentially ignored a downtown broken window streak, while manning the 2nd-Avenue Stop Sign Toll Booth almost around the clock.

That was in the past, though. I don’t know about the present situation. Let’s hope it’s not the same now.

I don’t think anybody has a problem with writing tickets for speeding, but in the past, it was just writing tickets for the sake of writing tickets. And putting a lot of resources and effort into writing bogus tickets.

I don’t have a problem with the police writing tickets for any Motor Vehicle Act violations. I do get amused by people who receive these bogus (?) tickets yet do nothing about it though.

[quote=“MiG”]
Here’s an HTMF thread on the topic from 2008: RCMP ticket on the way to the hospital

And: Daily News article on the officer writing a ticket to the guy taking his wife in labour to the hospital: tinyurl.com/princerupertrcmplovetickets

I’m sure there were other threads, though, with the actual ticket revenue posted, etc.[/quote]

I should read the 2008 thread to get a better picture of what happened in the past and more details. At any rate many cities in BC and across Canada use Motor vehicle tickets to generate revenue. The trick is to obey the rules of the road. It is not hard to do. If you believe the ticket is bogus, fight it.