From AOL Auto Section:
A New Jersey woman spent the night in jail after a ticket she received way back in 2002 came back to haunt her.
When she was 17, Krystle Garcia was cited by New York police for not having her insurance card. She never paid the fine, but was able to renew her license and commute to New York for the subsequent decade. Everything seemed fine until she was stopped at a checkpoint and had her license randomly scanned. The scan showed that Garcia had an outstanding summons, so she was arrested on the spot.
Even though Garcia had long forgotten about the ticket, the state of New York did not.
"It was horrifying," Garcia told NBC 4 in New York. "I sat in a holding cell for 14 hours with people who had gun charges, who were fighting each other."
"I've received tickets in New York and I've paid them. Couldn't they have just impounded my car instead of taking me, and putting me with other people who commit actual crimes?"
Garcia ended up settling in court and paying a $155 fine, but not until after she suffered through a long and frightening ordeal.
Moral of the story: Pay your fines, folks. The government has a long memory.
Now how would this have gone down in Milwaukee County?
1. If she was stopped in one of the suburbs, ie. Shorewood, WFB, Fox Point, etc., they would have let her make a phone call, someone would have come and paid fine, and she would have been released.
2. If she was stopped in the City of Milwaukee, they would not let her make a phone call. They would have kept her in a city jail for a few hours and then transferred her to the County Jail.
At the County Jail she would be subject to a cavity search (per the US Supreme Court).
When allowed to finally use a pay phone, on which she could only make a collect call, she might get out if she has a friend with a landline, you cannot make collect calls to cell phones. It would not be unusual for her to spend a couple nights in the County Jail before getting released.
When I grew up, we were taught in grade school that this kind of thing only happened in countries like the USSR or China or other dictatorships, and that US citizens were treated with a little respect and common sense.
It cost a lot more money to treat her like a dog in manpower and jailing, then if they just suspended her license and she would have remembered the ticket and paid the fine.
What do you think? Do you agree?
I know, a while back, Wisconsin required payment prior to being turned loose, for out of state violators.
"What do you think?", Not exactly a Gulag. The USSR or China reference was a bit much. "Do you agree?", No it was over reaction, but it does not represent our entire country. She should learn to take care of her obligations. 10 years is a long time.
But it is a shame that citizens are harassed with minor traffic issues when crack houses and major crimes are rampant in some tragic parts of the city. The obvious answer is revenue. People who can afford to drive a car can afford to pay citations.
Two reasons I see for these changes are first of all Apathy by Folks who think that it will always happen to someone else, and that as long as they are respectable and upright citizens, they will be protected and treated with dignity The recent TV coverage of the guy on Water street who was on the ground and being punched by a cop should have resulted in total outrage by the citizenry. The cop doing the punching was a sadistic coward, but because the "cops" say it is proper procedure -- and the average citizen thinks it can't happen to them, the controversy went away. Many Supreme Court cases over the past few years have been eating away at basic rights and dignities --- but people feel it won't happen to them, so they just don't care. The Supreme Court decided that an American Citizen can be put into MILITARY custody, sent to Gitmo, be denied legal representation, and has no right to a trial of his peers. In the name of National Security --- Makes the McCarthy Red Scare seem tame. The Supreme Court has decided that Anyone who is locked up in jail for ANY reason --- unpaid parking ticket --- is subject to a Cavity Search ! Contrary to popular belief and TV shows --- you are NOT entitled to a phone call upon arrest !! These are just a few examples --- there are many more.
Guys like that cop are often the kind that use their power on helpless victims ..... instead of condoning his conduct, the People,the Chief and the Other Cops should tell him to Man Up.
If you are upset by the actions in this blog, you'll really find this interesting. http://lawreport.org/ViewStory.aspx?StoryID=8826
I think what is new is that the police and prosecutors and legislators have become so overhanded in meting out punishment, that when confronted with one of their own, they realize how much it will F up his or her life and career, and all of a sudden they back off. The days of a cop pulling over someone with a minor want or warrant and warning them to get it taken care of are over --- an overdue library fine and all of a sudden in Milwaukee you are in jail !!! In the burbs, they will let you call and try to get it paid --- What is ironic is that I run a service company, and my clients would NOT allow me to hire someone with some of the records those cops have --- because their insurance companies won't allow it !!! Remember that kid that the Shorewood HS tried to have arrested and tried for $2.70 worth of chicken nuggets, that he may or may not have had legally --- if he had been convicted of that --- believe it or not, my clients would say I could not hire him ....... No Mercy for Citizens --- but Cops and Supreme Court Justices can get away with a lot !!!
I think facts are the bitch for you. How old am I?
And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening
On the mountain, dark and red. Turned the stone and looked beneath it... "Peace on Earth" was all it said.
Old/Grumpy means either you, Greg, Bren or CowDung. Who is it?
if you broke the law, you broke the law. a lenient judge or officer is all that lets you avoid the actual statutory penalties, never forget that... AND WE ARE A NATION OF LAWS, no matter how much the current or past admins want to ignore that
I come and go as I please and have absolutely no fear of the police because I have a clean record. Know what the best part of having a clean record? You can take the cops to task without consequence, which I have done many times. Try to find something that will get some traction. This isn't it.