Friday, December 16, 2011

Reason to hate a cop?

Recently a driver was stopped by a Lakemoor P.D. officer for no front license plate. The driver was operating her mother's car and didn't realize the license plate was missing.

Is it a violation? Yes.

Is it worth a ticket? A $212 expense? No. As in, NO.

How could the cop have handled it? He could have issued a Warning. Then the owner could have immediately gone to the DMV and arranged for a new front license plate and returned to the P.D. with proof.

Judge Gerhardt explained to violators in his court that court costs are high. That's an understatement! He helped out in the small way that he could by fining the driver only $30.00. When a driver walks out of the courtroom, he or she might be breathing a sigh of relief at the $30 fine.

Until, that is, he or she gets to the payment window and finds out that s/he must fork over $212 to settle that $30 ticket.

Perhaps EVERY person who has gotten a ticket in McHenry County should show up at County Board meetings every month and protest the outrageous level of court costs. What if several hundred people a month packed the Board meetings and demanded a lowering of court costs? And went to the offices of Jack Franks, Mike Tryon, Pamela Althoff and the rest of the State legislators and complained vociferously about these court costs.

At election time, folks, remember who sets the court costs. It's the County Board and the State Legislators.

A few people complaining is not going to produce any change. Opinions like mine won't. Relentless pressure on politicians by large numbers of people can result in change.

4 comments:

Justin said...

Then change the law. MANY Corvettes et al. sport a designer plate on the front rather than the lawful one issued by the SOS. Numerous times I personally have seen two cars at one residence using the same plates. Both only displayed on the rear.Even lacking the expiration sticker,people try to get away with it.

With only limited exception,Court cost are set by the state. You make it sound like Illinois is alone in this. Actually Illinois is lower than many, if not most states. Wisconsin is much higher in fines and costs.The mail in no appearace cist is $120.00. In Wisconsin that doesn;t even cover the cost of the fine.

Gus said...

I would contend that the driver of a Corvette, Beemer, Porsche, etc. with no front license plate has made a deliberate decision not to affix the front plate. That's different from the family car from which a front plate falls off.

And your example of the mis-use of the same plate on the rear of two vehicles? Even worse.

I stopped a driver in Colorado who was switching one plate between five (5!!!) Panteras. And he had that plate in the rear window, not even bolted on.

Justin said...

I thought in Colorado they BRANDED everything...giddyup

Anonymous said...

The Lakemoor cop had to write a citation to get that poor village its revenue, after the sorry state of affairs left by the infamous Ms. Virginia. DOH.