Comments on: Fighting back against a notorious speed trap!

By: Scott Colley

Scott Colley — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:08:48 +0000

Thanks for the thoughts.
It appears the commonwealth attorney Nora Miller is dropping the charges against me.
I was at the ‘Meck’ courthouse making copies of recent tickets, (and getting some pretty amazing data for my case, btw), and someone called her and told her I was there, so she came down to meet me, and tell me she was dropping the charges.
It was surrael, to say the least.
I appreciate Bruce picking this story up and helping get it out there.
The support I got from the folks around that town, (including some police (both active and retired, believe it or not) was astounding, and much appreciated.
Thanks to everyone!

By: Ann

Ann — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:11:05 +0000

Is that in Mecklenburg county?! Cause that is where I received my first ever speeding ticket. ~_~; And just like this guy mentions, the trooper was BOOKING it to catch up with me.

By: JoJo

JoJo — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:48:14 +0000

Most cruise control units will “resume” if the ignition, nor the cruise were shut off. In most vehicles this will not occur from a dead stop, you have to accelerate the vehicle manually to about 35 mph first. Yancyville NC had one deputy who’s sole job was to target drivers passing through town and harass them.I worked in Durham for a number of years and recieved multiple bogus speeding tickets right in front of the police station, knowing full well he was there, and what the speed limit was. A good lawyer, and a handful of tickets that were exactly the same, and at the same time of day, I got off, and the deputy got embarrassed in court.

By: Dissa

Dissa — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:00:02 +0000

Cops are capable of being dishonest just as much as the next guy. Give him a ticket quota and watch the lies start flying.

Handyman: Cops are used as predatory entities EVERYWHERE… not just small towns.

Ginblossom: Every car I’ve ever owned would resume the speed you had previously set as long as you hadn’t shut off the cruise control system completely or turned off the ignition.

By: ginblossom

ginblossom — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:58:49 +0000

Question? Since when will cruise control “resume” after coming to a complete stop? Never been in a vehicle where that’s possible. Since I’m in the market for a new ride and I like the thought of this option, does anybody know what he was driving?

By: J. Tyler Ballance

J. Tyler Ballance — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:16:12 +0000

We, the citizens, can change this predatory behavior if we make it an issue in future campaigns (both at the local and state-wide level).

It should have been obvious to those who still think independently, that all of those claims for new technology and better funding that were made by the cops during the post 9/11 hysteria, would be turned into more surveillance and radar systems turned against our own citizens.

Of course, police officers of today enjoy preying on the citizens; that is why they selected that line of work. To most of them, the citizens are just sheep and they are the wolves. Most cops don’t have any non-cop friends, because they are universally despised by the citizens, and the feeling is mutual, with cops seeing the citizens as mere targets.

It wasn’t always this way. Back when my grandfather was a police officer, police were an integrated part of every community, where many walked our neighborhoods and there was a mutual respect between the citizens and police officers.

The relationship between the police and the citizens dramatically changed during the riots of the 1960s. The police were used as tools of the establishment/government to hurt or kill protesters. Later came the “War on Drugs” where the cops were used to invade homes and seize property of anyone “suspected” of having illegal drugs. Stories of people being set-up or having drugs and weapons planted by crooked cops, became widespread. Then along came the fall of the Soviets and America began to talk of cutting the Pentagon budget and how we were going to spend the, “Peace Dividend.” The military-industrial complex couldn’t allow us to enjoy peace, so they conjured-up the 9/11 attacks and blamed some Saudi civil engineer who supposedly lived in a cave in Afghanistan. The government tried to portray police as heroes, and those who performed bravely during the attacks certainly deserve respect for doing their duty. However, post 9/11, the police were turned against the citizens of the United States, with a vengeance, by the Bush regime. Our people were jailed without trial, tortured and some were killed. Our Department of Justice now maintains an “Enemies of the State” list that contains, as of October 2009, 1.2 Million American names.

We needn’t perpetuate the us versus them relationship between police and the citizens. Political leaders can remove some of the laws that have been used to turn our people into prey. They can redefine the role of the police officer, so that once again, we will have police agencies whose only focus is on the protection of and service to, the citizens of their communities.

By: Susan Granger

Susan Granger — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:06:40 +0000

Don’t forget to include Green Bay on 360,heading to Richmond. The speed limits go up and down so much on that road that you need someone with you just to remind up of the changes. It goes from 60 to 65, back to 55, then to 45, then back to 60 then 65. It drives (no pun intended) me crazy on that road!!!

By: kelley in virginia

kelley in virginia — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:58:27 +0000

what does the town of emporia make from speeding tickets? something like $300,000 per month.

and yep, South Hill/Lacrosse line is notorious speed trap.

By: Wild Handyman

Wild Handyman — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:30:09 +0000

It is a shame that many small towns in Virginia (and many other places) are using their police officers as revenue producing agents instead of for true law enforcement.