What can I do if the police are obviously targeting my neighborhood for traffic tickets?

Question

In the 1 city block area that I live in, I see someone stopped by police getting a ticket every 48 hours. Even my brother from another city is noticing the same every time he visits. Me and my wife had PERFECT driving records until we moved here, and now we both are fearful of getting any more tickets. Is there something we can do? We moved from a less expensive neighborhood to this, and it feels like they are targeting the people who can afford the tickets.

You will get voted on for best answer. Please don't bother with Cop bashing, or other disparaging useless remarks. Looking for real insight and wisdom here. Thank you for the help.

Answer 1

There is nothing you can do about the plague of black horse carrying the scales of justice.

Answer 2

Obviously, they have received numerous complaints about traffic violations in your area. If they are continuously writing tickets - it is because there are numerous violations taking place. Traffic laws are designed to make the roadways safe - not so that local municipalities can make money.
You mentioned that you had a previous perfect driving record - does that mean you always obeyed the traffic laws - or - just that you never got caught. There is a difference.
Officers target offenders and areas where numerous offenses take place. For instance, if everyone in your block would obey the law for a couple of weeks - the officers would move to better hunting ground.
Some traffic laws may seem silly, but they are designed to try to make neighborhoods safe from accidents.

Answer 3

Your question doesn't specify what violation or violations the tickets are being issued for, and it assumes that the police are only there to generate revenue for the municipality.

Police departments target particular areas for a variety of reasons including complaints of violations in the neighborhood, traffic accident statistics, traffic and pedestrian volume, school zones, citizen requests for more police presence in their area, etc. While it is true that tickets generate money, it is not the main reason for their enforcement efforts. The primary goal of targeting traffic violations is to get drivers to obey the the rules of the road, which reduces the number of accidents, which reduces the number of injuries and fatalities, which in turn, makes us all safer.

If you and your wife obey the traffic laws, then you have nothing to worry about......right?

Most people complain that they rarely see the police in their neighborhoods, and here you are complaining that they're there too much. You should be thankful that they are making your community a safer place to live.

Answer 4

There can be many reasons. Perhaps one of your neibors complained to the local police about speeders and they stepped up enforcement. Maybe an incident happened: bad accident, a child got hit and speeding was a big factor. Maybe there is a unique feature in your area where the police can hide to catch speeders. Thought the police cannot sit in private property that is reasonably presumed to be closed off to public use. IE. sitting on a person's driveway. a residential driveway is presumed to be closed off to public use. A strip mall parking lot is private property, but the public and police can form a reasonable presumetion to enter the lot. unless the enterence is blocked off. (and probable cause and reasonable suspition for the police)

"it feels like they are targeting the people who can afford the tickets."
I understand your sentiment, but many also say the reverse is true, poor areas are singled out because are are more prone to speed. You are just saying your area is targetted because they are more prone to pay the fine.

if there is a community club etc. Attend and listen to the meeting before asking your area residents. More then likely, someone will mention chronic speeding problem, concern for the safety of pedistrians, children, schools, parks or a terrible traffic accident where speeding was a big factor.

Answer 5

As a friend of a few cops I can tell you that they will sit in areas that they know are frequent with violations. It does them no good to sit in areas where their presence has no impact. If you see some one pulled over every 48 hours there then I suppose they've found themselves a perfect spot.

As for "targeting your neighborhood", you simply have no recourse against their actions. Especially if the violations they are citing are legitimate, which I'm sure they are.

It may be annoying but it looks like you're going to have to start obeying the traffic laws in your area.

Answer 6

Generally, neighborhoods get an increase in police presence when someone has complained to the police department, city council, alderman, or mayor's office. Specific targeted areas are visited often to keep the taxpayer's happy. You can try to contact the same resources above and explain that you don't appreciate the increased presence in your neighborhood. However, I wouldn't mention that it's because you and your wife have been cited repeatedly for vehicle code violations.

Hope this helps

Answer 7

If you are following all the traffic laws why would you be scared of getting a ticket? I doubt they are "targeting" people that can't afford tickets, that's not the point. Police often target hot spots due to citizen complainants, crime statistics etc. I would think regular citizens would like having the extra protection making their neighborhood safer. Bottom line is this, if you are a law abiding citizen you have nothing to worry about.

Answer 8

Drive safely and carefully. If you reunied your perfect driving records there is obviously something that you are doing that is illegal.Perhaps you can call your police chief or form a neighborhood group to talk to your city council. Perhaps there were other reasons behind it. Maybe there are a large number of children or it could be a sting. Maybe there is a drug bust going on. It could be anythign but before you do anything rash be sure you go though the proper channels and do it legally.

Answer 9

Don't you like the fact that the police are constantly in your area?

Do you have children? It doesn't really matter but I am sure you'd hate to see someone's child get run over by a speeding driver..you know what I mean?

You didn't state what you were being ticketed for also so I can't say anything else.

Just be careful on the way home lol.

Take care.

Answer 10

My husband's department focuses on areas that have high accidents or citizen complaints when they are doing "targeted" traffic stops. It very well could be that the police are receiving complaints about driving habits in that area or have another reason to suspect that they need to focus on that area. I wouldn't necessarily look at it from a "targeting" people who can afford tickets standpoint, but rather the police department trying to make your neighborhood safer for you and your neighbors.

Answer 11

The obvious solution seems to be to obey the road rules. It may be that the police are targeting the area because of high accident rates or something like that.