Arrests Form Financial Bedrock Across St. Louis County Towns

[Purveyor]

By Tim Jones Sep 10, 2014 12:01 AM ET

The lifeblood of the tiny St. Louis suburb of Beverly Hills is lawbreakers, whose traffic fines account for more than half the annual revenue. In nearby St. Ann, 39 percent of the general-fund budget comes from court fines and fees.

In north St. Louis County, a predominantly black area where the U.S. Justice Department is investigating the Aug. 9 shooting of an unarmed teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, penance for crimes and misdemeanors pays to fix streets, pay workers’ salaries and pick up trash. In places once sustained by jobs at auto and aerospace factories, towns and cities that have been losing population rely on scofflaws for funds.

“It’s a reflection of the economy,” said Beverly Hills Mayor Myrtle Spann, whose town has dwindled to 570 residents. “It’s not a money grab -- this is a basis for us to stay abreast of what we need to do.”

An examination of annual financial reports and other sources showed four communities in northern St. Louis County drew at least 20 percent of their general-fund revenue from fines, while another four collected between 10 and 19 percent.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-10/arrests-form-financial-bedrock-across-st-louis-county-towns.html

[gordianot]

1. Police trolling for Dollars is a Missouri tradition.

Like the situation in Ferguson it took a Police shooting near the Bourbon, MO I-44 speed trap to shut it down this year. You have to kill a few unarmed citizens to put a stop to it.

[marmar]

2. K/R

[snooper2]

3. Missery is a dump, funny I grew up 15 minutes from the mean center of the population of America

Well, looking at Wikipedia that was in the 80's when I was growing up. Looks like the center marker keeps moving south. Just more proof that the only good states to live in are on either coast or on the border with Canada or Mexico. The edge of the country is where it is. The closer you get to the center the shittier it gets-



1980 Jefferson County, Missouri 1/4 mile west of DeSoto. 38°08?13?N 90°34?26?W / 38.13694°N 90.57389°W

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_center_of_the_United_States_population

[tularetom]

4. It's not just in St Louis and it's not limited to predominantly black cities

municipal governments across the country have discovered that traffic enforcement is a cost effective means of paying for the expenses of running a city.

Red light cameras, outrageous fines for minor offenses, and administrative fees tacked onto those fines, all bring in large sums of money disproportionate to the expenditures involved in collecting them.

Pissed off about people phoning or texting while driving? Want to see the cops bust more of them? Have your state legislature bump those fines up to 2 or 3 thousand bucks, you'll see a level of enforcement you'd never believe possible.

It isn't about safety anymore.

[msongs]

5. police and courts = extortion racket nt