I hope everyones weekend is pleasant. Thanks for all the interaction this week. I can see that the red light issue is a hot topic for many. Remember, the Special Enforcement Team comprised of Officer David Farrar and Officer Jermaine Walker will be watching various intersections next week. They will be issuing summonses for red light violations. It is expensive. The Bangor Police Department does not receive any of that money. It goes to the Violations Bureau. Many people believe law enforcement agencies receive that money directly in their coffers. We do not. We are issuing tickets because you have broken the law, not to gather funds for our next whale watch excursion. I can give you a little personal insight on what I think of cameras at intersections. That came up many times today in the comment section. Many for and many against. Again, this is MY personal opinion and I will tell you what it is and how my opinion came to be. I never thought they were a great idea, now, I detest them. Here is why. I received a ticket in the mail about two months ago from a borough of New York City. It was for running a stop sign on a small side street. There it was, a photo of my plate. I have an SUV, the plate was on an SUV. However, there was a license plate frame around the Maine registration plate that covered up the fact that the license plate was not a Conservation Plate, but a Veterans plate. I have a Maine conservation plate ( I like the Loon, what can I say? I also like Ligers). In short, the SUV was a different brand and was running the stop sign. Maine uses many different types of plates but sometimes uses the same registration number. I had been to New York this past summer on several occasions, not to that street or borough. If you must know, I had really wanted to be a Rockette. That dream was dashed when I could not even get into a size eleven pump. My issue is this, the letter named me, the owner. It showed my registration and told me to pay a fine (quite a high fine I might add). It gave me about three ways to pay the ticket but really no clear way to speak to another human being about explaining that it was not MY car in the photo...even though the number matched, the plate series did not. It sent me to several different departments websites and none were clear in telling me how I could explain my case. It seemed set up to force a person to just pay the stupid ticket. It gave me a date to show up to argue my case and CLEARLY stated how I could just send the fine to them using my credit card and all would be forgotten. It was so easy to do it this way that I believe many people would just pay the ticket. I did not pay the ticket, but I have access to the Department of Motor Vehicles information on my car and was able to take a photo of my own plate. I had to write a letter and spend too much money to send it via registered mail. They finally wrote me back about a week ago and said I did not have to pay the ticket. Really? It cost me time and postage to fight something that I was not even involved in. That is not right. I think that in order to be charged with violation, you should be face to face with a police officer. A signature proves that you received the ticket and that you agree that you will either fight it in court or waive that and plead guilty. It also allows you to speak directly with the person that saw you violate that particular law. If you are pregnant and going to a hospital to give birth, maybe that officer will just help you get there. If there is a medical emergency that can be confirmed, maybe that officer can help you. Face to face. So, I do not believe cameras are the answer. Next week, we can talk more of this. Please heed the warning and stop at all red lights, stop signs and garage sal.....oops....Just red lights and stop signs. Have a great weekend. The men and women of the Bangor Police Department will be here!
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 21:32:06 +0000
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