Insurance Journal An Oklahoma state senator has filed a bill to allow law enforcement officers to issue electronic citations for traffic, misdemeanor and municipal ordinance violations.
A former police officer, Sen. Al McAffrey, said Senate Bill 1872 would protect law enforcement personnel during traffic stops.
“Allowing officers to issue electronic citations will help better protect them. If they don’t have to approach vehicles during traffic stops to give people tickets but can simply email traffic violation citations directly to the district court clerk then they’re less likely to get into a dangerous altercation,” said McAffrey, D-Oklahoma City.
The measure would add a $5 fee to the amount paid by defendants convicted of speeding (up to 10 mph over the speed limit), certain misdemeanor traffic violations, or a driving under the influence misdemeanor or felony.
A “Court Clerk’s Records Electronic Citation Fund” would be created in each county.
Sixty percent of the fee, or $3, would be credited to the fund and forty percent would be disbursed to the agency of the arresting law enforcement officer to help with the expenses related to the establishment and maintenance of electronic citations.
The District Court Clerk in each county would collect the fees and distribute them in the fund.
“Routine traffic stops are one of the most dangerous times for officers to become injured because they don’t know what kind of situation or individual they’re approaching. They’re walking up blind,” said McAffrey. “We need to provide better protection for them by not putting them in harm’s way unnecessarily. By allowing them to submit electronic citations, they’d no longer have to leave the safety of their car.”
Source: Oklahoma Legislature
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2014/01/27/318429.htm
I see this leading to more false tickets than anything else. Just like the red light cameras, the cops will use this to get more money from drivers. With no interaction between the officer and driver, there is no evidence other than the officer’s word, and we all know how “honest” that is.
yeah, I think you’re absolutely right about the false tickets, which will probably be impossible to contest, but it may reduce the roadside rapes.
It’s almost a moot point. We won’t have any semblance of freedom, justice, or peace until after the war.
Lazy cops will love this, bastard cops who love confrontation and their power wont be able to keep their butts in the seat and will have to get out and see what kind of trouble they can find by approaching the driver.
Well, you got a governor in Oklahoma who is all about the 2nd Article and Constitutional Carry of guns and then they try and pass this piece of shit bill. Why is it always one good thing, followed by one bad thing. Typical political bullshit.
By the way, Oklahoma is known for giving people tickets if they fail to signal when making an obvious turn or switching lanes even when they is no one around to signal to. Normal cities don’t care, but Oklahoma police have nothing better to do and this is how the poorest state in the Union gets its revenue. Now with these cameras, they can easily abuse the system and harass people even more.
However, if the people of Oklahoma followed the people of Texas (like they do on a lot of things), they can all choose to ignore these traffic citations that they receive in the mail and throw them away, making the system ineffective and unenforceable.