Ticket fixing is a practice in which a public official destroys or dismisses a pending
traffic ticket
A traffic ticket is a notice issued by a law enforcement official to a Driving, motorist or other road user, indicating that the user has violated Traffic, traffic laws. Traffic tickets generally come in two forms, citing a moving violation, suc ...
as a favor to a friend or family member. For example,
police officer
A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
s in a number of jurisdictions have been charged with destroying pending tickets at the request of other officers.
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
s have also been accused of ticket fixing. Some police officers consider it a "professional courtesy" extended to friends and relatives of police officers. However, the practice is unpopular with the general public, and is illegal in most jurisdictions.
United States
Allegations of ticket fixing have cropped up for decades in jurisdictions around the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, including
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
,
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, and
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
.
In 1986, officers of the
Georgia State Patrol
The Georgia State Patrol (GSP) was established in March 1937 in the U.S. state of Georgia and is a division of the Georgia Department of Public Safety. It is the primary state patrol agency for the U.S. state of Georgia. Troopers operate primar ...
faced charges of ticket fixing. In 1999, an investigation revealed widespread ticket-fixing in Alabama. In 2004,
Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...
judge
William Danser faced charges of fixing tickets and reducing
drunk driving
Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash.
In the United States, alcohol is invo ...
sentences for "South Bay athletes, golfing buddies and friends of friends." On October 27, 2011, at least 11
New York police officers were charged with offenses related to ticket fixing. A clerk in the San Francisco government faced ticket fixing accusations in 2012. Two police officers were charged with ticket fixing in Garden Grove, CA, in 2012.
[http://ggjournal.com/2012/06/07/two-police-charged-in-ticket-fixing-case/]
See also
*
Police corruption
Police corruption is a form of police misconduct in which law enforcement officers end up breaking their political contract and abuse their power for personal gain. This type of corruption may involve one or a group of officers. Internal police ...
*
Selective enforcement
In law, selective enforcement occurs when government officials (such as police officers, prosecutors, or regulators) exercise discretion, which is the power to choose whether or how to punish a person who has violated the law. The biased use of e ...
References
{{Reflist
Corruption
Traffic law
Police misconduct