By: Ed Mund
Crab Staff Writer
BALTIMORE – With a cup of coffee in her right hand, and a lit cigarette in the other, she surveys the scene taking in all the little details and wondering what was the motive for the atrocity that occurred in front of her. There are no flashing lights, no flash bulbs, and there is no air support. There is only her and her pen.
The aforementioned atrocity, of course, is a 1996 Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck that hangs at least 3 feet past the sign that clearly states that you cannot park there as it is a bus stop. While she shakes her head and wonders what this world has come to, she pulls out the pen, writes feverishly on a stack of tickets while stomping out the finished cigarette on the ground beneath her.
“This one is going to cost this guy, I’ll make sure of that.” she says as she continues to document this clear disregard of the rules. “I’m thinking at least 100 bucks before I am done with this clown.”
While many would think that a fine that big for parking partially in a bus stop would be considered excessive, she feels she is being generous and fair.
“A hundred is nothing, I’ve written tickets for two, two-fifty, even three hundred dollars before.” she explains as she takes pleasure in the sound of the windshield wiper hitting the ticket pressed up on the glass.
Although there are guidelines set forth by the city regarding parking violations and their fine amount, she feels that those are weak and do nothing to discourage the hundreds of parking crimes that occur each day.
“This is a serious problem that is only getting worse. This tells me that the ‘guidelines’ that the city has come up with are not getting it done. My rules are getting it done; my rules are reducing parking crimes and my rules show that I mean business.” she declared as she scoped the rest of the block for another candidate looking for some ‘paper justice’.
This deviant behavior has gotten her in trouble before, which is why she wants to remain anonymous to this story, but it doesn’t seem to keep her from bending these rules if it means one more car won’t be parking illegally on her beat again. To her, this is more of a cop philosophy than a practice.
“You know, a law enforcement officer’s worst enemy is the constraints by which we are ‘required’ to work in. We try to solve problems but we can’t do this or can’t do that. This is the main cause of stress for most cops. I just choose to ignore those constraints and because of this, my beat is always seeing the best results. If I get fired, then that is the city’s loss, not mine.” she explained as she nods her head signaling that the Tacoma is the only offender on this block.
Crab Staff Writer
BALTIMORE – With a cup of coffee in her right hand, and a lit cigarette in the other, she surveys the scene taking in all the little details and wondering what was the motive for the atrocity that occurred in front of her. There are no flashing lights, no flash bulbs, and there is no air support. There is only her and her pen.
The aforementioned atrocity, of course, is a 1996 Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck that hangs at least 3 feet past the sign that clearly states that you cannot park there as it is a bus stop. While she shakes her head and wonders what this world has come to, she pulls out the pen, writes feverishly on a stack of tickets while stomping out the finished cigarette on the ground beneath her.
“This one is going to cost this guy, I’ll make sure of that.” she says as she continues to document this clear disregard of the rules. “I’m thinking at least 100 bucks before I am done with this clown.”
While many would think that a fine that big for parking partially in a bus stop would be considered excessive, she feels she is being generous and fair.
“A hundred is nothing, I’ve written tickets for two, two-fifty, even three hundred dollars before.” she explains as she takes pleasure in the sound of the windshield wiper hitting the ticket pressed up on the glass.
Although there are guidelines set forth by the city regarding parking violations and their fine amount, she feels that those are weak and do nothing to discourage the hundreds of parking crimes that occur each day.
“This is a serious problem that is only getting worse. This tells me that the ‘guidelines’ that the city has come up with are not getting it done. My rules are getting it done; my rules are reducing parking crimes and my rules show that I mean business.” she declared as she scoped the rest of the block for another candidate looking for some ‘paper justice’.
This deviant behavior has gotten her in trouble before, which is why she wants to remain anonymous to this story, but it doesn’t seem to keep her from bending these rules if it means one more car won’t be parking illegally on her beat again. To her, this is more of a cop philosophy than a practice.
“You know, a law enforcement officer’s worst enemy is the constraints by which we are ‘required’ to work in. We try to solve problems but we can’t do this or can’t do that. This is the main cause of stress for most cops. I just choose to ignore those constraints and because of this, my beat is always seeing the best results. If I get fired, then that is the city’s loss, not mine.” she explained as she nods her head signaling that the Tacoma is the only offender on this block.
2 comments:
Turn your freaking RSS on!
This is so true. I have been ticketed in Fells Point because the city put up a no parking sign right after I parked. I was there only an hour.
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