More from St. Louis County municipalities. According to an
article in Sunday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, several
of these municipalities — with the connivance of municipal court
judges, local prosecutors, police officers, and lawyers — use the
state's point system for traffic tickets to get more money for
themselves. The result is a system of ticket fixing that takes institutional
corruption to a new level. Most ticket fixing involves police officers doing secret favors for
people, for a variety of reasons, often due to connections with high-level officials. A lot of people know about the
ticket fixing, but they are not directly involved. Here the system is more open and more people are directly involved. It is a sign of a seriously unhealthy ethics environment in these municipalities.
Here's how it works. You are given a ticket for speeding or running a light, which means both a fine and an increase in your car insurance due to increased "points" (the point system is state law). If you hire a lawyer to represent you, she will get the charge changed to illegal parking, which carries no increase in car insurance, but has a fine twice that of the speeding ticket (and you have to pay the lawyer).
Here's how it works. You are given a ticket for speeding or running a light, which means both a fine and an increase in your car insurance due to increased "points" (the point system is state law). If you hire a lawyer to represent you, she will get the charge changed to illegal parking, which carries no increase in car insurance, but has a fine twice that of the speeding ticket (and you have to pay the lawyer).
