When the Crystal Lake P.D., the Crystal Lake Park District Police and the McHenry County Sheriff's Department combined forces last Friday night to suck up some grant dollars, how effective were they, really?
Due to a skillfully-worded press release, you can't really tell.
While the officers conducted a five-hour operation, according to the Crystal Lake PD's press release, the release did not indicate how many officers and patrol cars were involved. However many there were, they wrote 48 tickets.
But how many different drivers got tickets? It is a common practice to issue multiple citations to a single driver. One driver might get a ticket for DUI, no valid DL and no insurance. That's three citations of the 48.
Another missing key figure is how many vehicles, in total, were stopped and checked? There is no way to guess at that number.
A worrisome word in the press release (and one that probably won't be used in the future) is "predetermined", as in "...stopped predetermined groups of vehicles ..." How did they determine the "predetermined group"? Were they all red? All imports? All Corvettes? All drivers under age 25? All Hispanics? Horrors....
Of the violations identified were
4 for Driving While under the Influence of Alcohol;
3 for No Valid Driver’s License;
1 for Driving While License Revoked;
4 for Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia;
2 for Unlawful Possession of Cannabis;
15 for Operation of an Uninsured Motor Vehicle;
29
So that's 29 out of the 48. What were the other 19 tickets for? The sweep was to target impaired or dangerous drivers.
How'd they do?
Only four (4) tickets were issued for "impaired or dangerous drivers." Was the sweep a success, in the eyes of the public?
There is nothing dangerous about operating a motor vehicle if you don't have a driver's license in your pocket, for driving while revoked, for operating an uninsured vehicle, for having paraphernalia in your car or even having cannabis in your car. It's illegal, but it's not "dangerous." The "dangerous" part is the actual operation of the vehicle.
What really happened was three departments and several officers and squad cars spent five hours to nab four DUIs.
And what were those other 19 tickets for?
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It's doubtful that the driver mentioned in this scenario was among the other 19 unaccounted for ticket recipients, but maybe this little story will help lessen the obvious frustration folks are experiencing over some of the inconsistent practices with law enforcement everywhere!
Billy Graham was returning to Charlotte after a speaking engagement, and when his plane arrived there was a limousine there to transport him to his home.
As he prepared to get into the limo, he stopped and spoke to the driver.
"You know" he said, "I am 87 years old, and I have never driven a limousine. Would you mind if I drove it for a while?"
The driver said, "No problem. Have at it."
Billy gets into the driver's seat, and they head off down the highway. A short distance away sat a rookie state trooper operating his first speed trap.
The long black limo went by him doing 70 in a 55 mph zone. The trooper pulled out and easily caught the limo, and he got out of his patrol car to begin the procedure.
The young trooper walked up to the driver's door, and when the glass was rolled down,he was surprised to see who was driving.
He immediately excused himself and went back to his car to call his supervisor.
He told the supervisor, "I know we are supposed to enforce the law. But I also know that important people are given certain courtesies. I need to know what I should do, because I have stopped a very important person."
The supervisor asked, "Is it the governor?"
The young trooper said, "No, he's more important than that."
The supervisor said, "Oh, so it's the president."
The young trooper said, "No, he's even more important than that."
The supervisor finally asked, "Well then, who is it?"
The young trooper said, "I think it's Jesus, because he's got Billy Graham for a chauffeur!"
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