Police Officer Gives Himself $21,000 Raise Using Stop Sign Tickets
A recent article by John Stossel examined a Michigan police officer’s penchant for giving out stop sign tickets as a means of increasing his income.
Day after day in Warren, Mich., people wait in a long line to pay traffic fines. Many are there because police say they didn’t come to a full stop at a stop sign. Often the policeman saying that is Officer David Kanapsky.
On last week’s “20/20,” you heard a motorist in court insist that she did come to a complete stop. The judge replied, as judges there often do: “I find Officer Kanapsky’s testimony to be credible. He is an unbiased witness.”
But the officer is not really unbiased. The more tickets he writes, the more overtime he gets. Last year, Kanapsky spent so much time in court he increased his pay by $21,000. Rolling through a stop sign in Michigan puts two points on your driving record. That hikes your car insurance premium. Fighting the ticket could cost even more. So to avoid the points and legal fees, most people plead guilty to a lesser offense: impeding traffic. The court sounds like an assembly line, ” … no points … $135 … “
Last year, the town made half a million dollars from such fines. Some drivers told us it “seems like a moneymaking scam.”
The city denies it, but Stossel is skeptical:
[Police Commissioner William] Dwyer denied the tickets were a moneymaking scam. He said he didn’t think it odd that Kanapsky wrote thousands of tickets. “It’s not unusual for a traffic officer to write 10 to 20 traffic violations a day, if not more.”
Please. I’m all for highway safety, but I suspect that America’s roads have too many rules, and that gives cops too much arbitrary power to harass people or profit off them. As the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-Tse said, “The more laws that are written, the more criminals are produced”.
At the end of the article, Stossel references recent accident statistics that poke holes in the “it’s for safety” argument:
Remember the stop sign in Warren, Mich., where Kanapsky wrote many of his tickets? It’s been changed to a yield sign. One result: fewer accidents.
Police say, “[B]etween Jan. 16, 2008, and May 21, 2008, there have been no accidents reported. During that same time frame in 2007, there were four crashes reported.” Good. Let’s get rid of more signs.
And to all the cops who eagerly punish us for doing what they do, give me a break.
You can view the report from the local news station that originally broke this story below:
Additional Note: In November of last year, the city of Warren made our list of the worst speed trap cities in the United States.
Other Related Articles
- 8 Questions About Traffic Tickets That Politicians Never Answer
- Jericho, Arkansas: Pay Your Ticket Or Get Shot
- Georgia City Rakes In $1,136 In Traffic Ticket Fines Per Resident
- Why Did It Take Nearly 30 Years To Fix A Simple Speed Limit Sign?
- Avoid Speeding Tickets: The Value Of A Good Radar Detector
To change the picture next to your comments, sign up at Gravatar.com. Each picture is associated with a particular email address. (This is a third-party service not affiliated with NMA.)
Seems like a lot of people on here doing what good ol’ Americans do, sitting back and complaining and monday morning quarter backing!
If you guys (and gals) think you can do a better job, GO FOR IT! In my department I don’t get any extra money for tickets I write, in fact my actual department only gets $1 from each ticket and the municipal court keeps the rest. As far as making money going to court, yeah right!
In the past 5 years I would say I have probably been to court maybe 3 or 4 times! Yeah the court system may be a little messed up, because it is about the money! They don’t care what you plea to as long as they are seeing the green paper (or whatever color it is these days).
When I first became a cop I thought it was stupid the government told people they had to wear their seatbelt, and I refused to write a seatbelt ticket. After the 5th or 6th family I had to go tell their loved one had died in a car crash because they weren’t wearing their seatbelt I decided I probably should start enforcing the seatbelt law.
I have worked hundreds of injury car crashes and have seen 1 crash where the guy might have lived if he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt, and it still wouldn’t have been a guaranteee he would have lived.
As far as speed goes, I promise you %100 speed does kill. Every year in the US around 40,000 people are killed in car crashes. I promise you if there were not dedicated officers enforcing traffic laws that number would be at minimum doubled, and realisticly tripled or quadrupled.
The chance of you or one of your own loved ones being killed or seriously injured in a vehicle accident would be very likely! (and it’s not just you that you have to be worried about, it’s other motorist driving crazy).
I have no magic ticket number I have to write every month, and in fact I dont even have to write a ticket, I am only required to write a written warning. But I choose to enforce the traffic laws to attempt to save lives. I hope at least one of you can see the insight here from someone that does the job every day, but I doubt it!
By the way I did like the guys idea of givng the money to charity. The only problem I see with that is that our taxes would go through the ROOF! But if that ever did happen, watch out, I would give every one of you suckers 3 or 4 tickets!!!! :-) j/k
Drive Safe and Buckle Up! (ARRIVE ALIVE)
I have a note book with over 125 entries, unit #, date time, location, violation etc. I do insure cop is not on a call before making an entry, ie do they stop for traffic light/sign, do they slow down in traffic etc.
When I have a few current violations listed I forward to chief of police. You can tell when he gets list, you won’t see any violations for a week or so then back to their violations.
The reason why police don’t follow speed limits (specifically on interstates) is because they know it’s not dangerous.
They won’t be punished and they aren’t doing anything wrong from a realistic point of view. If I were a cop I wouldn’t follow speed limits on most interstates either just as I don’t now.
The only difference is I wouldn’t have to worry about people hiding in the bushes with laser guns and could focus more on driving. I wouldn’t give speeding tickets either on most sections of interstates except for construction zones. I’d try and give more tickets for people blocking the left lane and impeding the flow of traffic or tailgating.
I honestly could not sleep at night otherwise because I would know to do otherwise is wrong and taking advantage of people for the benefit of the state.
Joe,
Unfortunately you are probably more correct then me *sigh!*
Just try and stay away from words like “all, everyone, always, etc” and understand that sometimes there are reasons why officers make maneuvers that would ordinarily be met with a ticket. It’s very true that police are not required to use their lights and siren each time they are responding to calls. The type of call dictates the officer’s response and many times the response is not to run lights/siren the entire time.
There are some who do care about hypocrisy.
Side Note: “But anyone from another planet would take one look and discover we don’t all live under the same standards and rules”
If the Alien were to look at human civilization as a whole he would see this saturated in every part, not just the police. When it comes down to it, the police would be lower on their scale of scope and influence as it applies to the lives of others.
Come on guys, anybody except from another planet knows the police do about anything they want. While Tim may disagree there’s just no argument here. Only their moral restraint restricts them. Some have it, others don’t. But anyone from another planet would take one look and discover we don’t all live under the same standards and rules.
Think about it for a minute. Your a young testosterone driven male and you’ve suddenly been given all this authority backed up clear to the highest court in the land. There’s absolutely nothing to stop you from running around demonstrating your kings authority. Your now running with the big dogs. I will add my standard disclaimer; not all cops are of such manner but too many are.
One of my co-workers, wives aunts, is married to a OHP (Oklahoma Highway Patrol) and this co-worker says that as long as this individual does not have his uniform on he’s pretty decent. Once he puts on that uniform it changes his whole personality. Let’s put it this way, I wouldn’t want to be the guy who gets stopped by him. Is this guy overestimating his worth?
Nope. They have owed me $20 since 1989.
Did they pay for the damage? I’m certain that sometimes it is true that they are having a good laugh.
One of our guys turned around to catch a speeder and just barely clipped the edge of his tire’s rim on a small curb. The tire didn’t blow out or anything, it just lost it’s bead.
He was suspended a day without pay for that one.
Tim writes: {Get the car number and make a report. I know that in some departments no one cares, but some do.}
I was once passing two Chippies who had stopped a car on the 5 through the Central Valley. Just as I came up on them – clear vision for miles – one pulled all the way from the shoulder to the #1 lane, forcing me onto the median, breaking the parking brake cable. The other guy saw it, stopped for me, gave me the offender’s name and unit #, and the commander’s name and address in Coalinga.
I fixed the cable (< $20) but submitted the bill to CHP and sent a nice letter outlining the circumstances of the incident, complete with witness names (the Chippie who stopped had two people with him who saw it). He never answered the letter but said in my follow-up phone call, that the matter was being handled “administratively,” meaning, of course, that they were having a good laugh about it.
Get the car number and make a report. I know that in some departments no one cares, but some do.
My violation was I drove in the turning lane for about half a city block,young officer told me you only get in turning lane just prior to making your turn.
Traffic in travel lanes backed up at light for over 2 blocks, I was going to make left turn, so I got in turn lane where there was no traffic.
L.J. McGaha, traffic violations by local cops are so routine here in Tulsa that hardly anybody comments on it anymore. Following too closely and speeding are my favorite. Sometimes they’ll come up to a red light at a intersection, flip on their lights, go through the light, flip off their lights and lazily proceed on.
The use of unmarked cars are proliferating here and that makes it even less obvious that a cop is violating the law. Drivers now just think it’s another driver. How would you like to drive around in a unmarked cop car and never need to worry about a ticket? It’s another form of corruption that’s set in to law enforcement.
What was the context of your violation and the same one committed by the officer?
I received a ticket, paid the fine $147.75. Two weeks later saw a local cop in a patrol car do EXACTLY same thing I was ticketed for of, but because he was a cop it was permissable.
Younger cops carry a huge chip on their shoulder and they all tell you no warnings, just a ticket, regardless of how minute or ridiculous the offense is. I can’t speak for other parts of the country, but the local police are the WORST violators of traffic laws. It is amazing the violations I see every day and they get by with it because they are cops.
The US Constitution says innocent until proven guilty.
By simply taking a police officer’s word over the accused a judge violates the US Constitution and thus should be in jail.
Shooter,
Chances are that most tickets written are marginally legal in accordance with the way they are written. The problem lies in the moral and ethical enforcement of them. I had a judge tell me he would hear my case later and I protested based on the fact that: 1. I pleaded not Guilty and waived my right to an attorney.
2. Traffic violations in most cases were heard at a hearing. I was not at a trial.3. I told the officer at the scene I wished to be arrested because he would not write the ticket for the 5 mph and less I was speeding when pulled over. The officer and I debated the issue until he put me in the back of his vehicle and checked out my drivers license. He found no problem of arrests, warrants, or convictions in my past so he pleaded with me to sign the ticket, but would not write 60 mph or less when others were passing at 80 or better. I finally consented, but told him if I had to pay so much as a nickel over parking fees and lunch I would serve time. I was already losing a days pay and mileage.
The judge stated he would hear my case, but later in the day because my knowledge of the law was” above that of the common citizen”.
I was the last case heard that day. He was going to assess court costs, but I reminded the police officer of my appearance in court and his refusal to arrest me weeks earlier. the judge had dismissed my case got so mad when an honest police officer spoke up he dismissed the court cost and told me ” I do not want to see you in my court again. The majority of police are doing their jobs, but the trouble I see is those motorists who develop the bad-mouth attitude and are guilty of not speeding, but unsafe driving practices.
We are provided a list of our particular court dates. You can be “scheduled” as much as three or four times a week. The list you get is your notice to be there.
Many times you can get away with not going, but the rules are that if you are scheduled you are required to be there! If you know you have court and gamble that no one is going to call you then you can get away with the beer.
If you do get the call and don’t answer or tell them you can’t come in the case MAY automatically become LOP “Lack Of Prosecution”. The court sometimes works with us, but not always.
To sum it up: If you are scheduled, you should be aware that you MAY be called therefore you should make arrangements.
This doesn’t just include our days off. If you work a midnight shift, get off at 0700 you could get called at lunch time. We try hard to avoid these situations.
The majority of our guys come when they have special or important cases. It’s rarely about the money (seems like it was with the story)
Our compensation on our day off is two hours. You can elect for four, but if you get done early the shift commander can send you out on the street for the rest of the time.
In addition, as a fatal crash investigator I can be called ANYTIME. Over the last four years we’ve averaged about 1 every 5 weeks (over 40 lives). One of my partners is also a SWAT member. He’s also on call all the time for SWAT and Traffic.
Sometimes you wonder who’s life it is?
Tim, couple of questions if you don’t mind.
You can get called to testify on very short notice even if it’s your scheduled time off?
I assume you automatically get OT for that, but do you get any other compensation? I’m a computer guy; if I have to get up and answer the phone at 2 am on a Saturday–that counts as a full day of work even if answering the phone was all I did. I’m on salary so it makes no difference money-wise, but that day counts for seniority, vacation accural, etc.
So if you only get OT for the time you are there, that sucks.
Next question, what if you were having a few beers at that BBQ, do you get to say “sorry, but I’ve been drinking”?
First: I agreed that the “intersection” is wrong and I can’t see giving out so many tickets for such a crappy design flaw.
Second: “IT’S OUR RIGHT to confront!” Excuse my choice of words but, when I have to come to work on my day off the city is going to PAY! You don’t work for free, neither do I.
I don’t care for stories that are completely outrageous, then the concept of the story is applied liberally to all other situations. If I write tickets causing someone to contest them and I have to come to work on my day off I’m going to get paid. If not, schedule it while I’m working! That happens sometimes and sometimes it’s on my day off. The ATTORNEYS get first crack at the schedule they want then the ACCUSED get second crack at the schedule they want then I get scheduled to fit the first two regardless of WHAT I MIGHT BE DOING ON MY DAY OFF. “IF” I am aware of a trial date conflict, then I have to have a written letter two the court TWO WEEKS in advance if I want out. Sometimes they let me out, sometimes they don’t.
At a moments notice I’ve been called from dinner, barbecues with friends/ family and nights out at the movies to come to court to testify. THEN when I get there the “accused/lawyer” changes their mind about the trial. They just wanted to see if I would come. If the timing is right and the request to “see me” so blatant, the prosecutor and I DO NOT HAVE TO OFFER THE PLEA BARGAIN. Some people should think about that before they play Perry Mason. Many times the last thing I care about is the MONEY.
Address this problem, not the entire system. It was clear there was an engineering problem and a enforcement problem. From the look of the video it appeared to be an on ramp. Why they would put a stop sign at this place is mind-boggling.
To Tim: The accuser is “allowed” ?!?!?!?!?!?
IT’S OUR RIGHT to confront!!
Gimme a break.
I agree with shooter’s comment about the judge as well.
That’s not much of an “intersection” as far as stop signs go. I don’t like that at all.
As far as my overtime goes for traffic court. I do go a lot, on my days off. At any time they can not notice me to come and I won’t, but they can’t because the accused is allowed to confront the accuser. At times it is more annoying and I just don’t want the money. I would rather spend the time on my days off with my wife and daughter.
I’m most disturbed that the judge would lie that the law enforcement officer was an unbiased witness! How could he be unbiased when he wrote the ticket? What’s the point of going to court if the officer couldn’t have been mistaken? How could he possible be unbiased when he monetarily benefits from writing the ticket? And where in the Hell did that judge learn his ethics from? Another pathetic example of how our judicial system is undermining itself by acting immorally, illegally, or unethically!
The most disturbing thought is, how many more officer kanapsky’s are out there that haven’t been exposed yet??
Good sample of a crooked cop that abuse his power.
I bet he gave tickets only at signs in compliance with the federal manual on uniform traffic control devices, yeah right.
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/sitemap.htm
Nice post.
This is why law enforcement (and governments) should not be allowed to keep the proceeds of there enforcement.
The problem has always been law enforcement becoming more about money, than safety.
That is why the proceeds from fines should go to a third party charity who have no say in the enforcement of the law.
Once the money is taken out, law enforcement can focus on safety problems, not technical fouls which is what happened here.