Sweet new cop car!
Nice move by the cops with this one... got this in an e-mail today:
Coming to a city near you
NOT THAT ANY OF YOU LAW ABIDING CITIZENS WOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT THIS ANYWAYJust your "average Taxi", right... WRONG ! It's intentionally designed to look like a taxi, no special markings, etc.
Note the red lights, front and rear view mirror area.
The roof sign actually says "Police" and the phone number is for the Halton Regional Police Dept.
This is the latest in POLICE RADAR CARS...
Now in use in Guelph, Georgetown, Milton and Orangeville areas...
Soon to come to a city near you.
Labels: crime
posted by Christian Conservative @ 2:22 p.m.
6 Comments:
At Mon Nov 30, 04:32:00 p.m. EST,
fernstalbert said…
It doesn't matter how the new cars look as long as they are up to the job and safe for the officers. Cheers.
At Mon Nov 30, 06:34:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
This is great for "catching" speeders. But if we really wanted to "fight" speeding (i.e., reduce the incidences of speeding), we would probably be more opened about monitoring it (i.e., having radar machines all along the highway, automatically recording speeds and plates, so that people would know that if they speed, then they get caught.
Under such a system, the law would be applied fairly/universally. I've often been amazed when people tell me that the police officer who catches them speeding changes the actual speed on the ticket; by the grace of the individual officer, history can be altered. I'm sure that the benefits of such benevolence are not equally shared by the province's speeders.
But I digress.
Notwithstanding privacy concerns (which I have)... I have heard that the certainty of getting caught is far more of a deterrent than the seriousness of the crime. This seems to make sense.
Compare Canada to the USA, where murder (and lesser offenses) can lead to 100s of years in jail, or the death penalty. (I admit that this is not "scientific", but it gives a general impression that I think is true):
In New Orleans, it seems easy to "get away with murder". "Orleans Parish district attorney's office secured just one conviction in the 162 murders committed in 2006"*
In 2008 New Orleans had between 55 and 64 murders per 100 000 residents (depending on the population figure used).**
The same number for Toronto: 1.86 per 100000.***
Just slightly above the number for all of Canada: 1.83****
This all relates to a more general argument of mine (well, others too, why no doubt make the argument better than me), that the government's policy positions on things like crime are driven by (and driving) public opinion; designed to gain political support/votes rather than actually dealing with the problem that they supposedly are dealing with. But I digress.
Best,
-Anon1152
*http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/nov/06/usa
**http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/despite_drop_in_crime_new_orle.html
***
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/091028/t091028a2-eng.htm#tab2ftnote1
****http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/091028/t091028a2-eng.htm#tab2ftnote1
At Mon Nov 30, 08:48:00 p.m. EST,
L said…
Perfect - go find the bad guys
At Mon Nov 30, 11:13:00 p.m. EST,
Ray K. said…
Would you pull over for any car at all that has flashing lights installed?
At Tue Dec 01, 09:28:00 a.m. EST,
Ray K. said…
Anon1152,
You're comparing the highest ranked US city in murder rate, which of all crime statistics probably varies most compared to Canada (yet represents a very small category of crime) to prove what exactly about speeding?
Your last paragraph, of course, is bang on. Incentives matter.
At Tue Dec 01, 03:07:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
Hi Ray K,
I admit (and admitted?) that my comments weren't very rigorous (scientifically speaking). There are problems with the homicide/speeding and Louisiana/Ontario comparison. And yes, there are many factors that affect the murder rate.
New Orleans came to mind not because of the high murder rate, but because of the low rate of prosecutions. I think that the unlikelihood of being prosecuted for murder in New Orleans, despite the more severe punishment, has something to do with the higher murder rate.
The homicide figures were easy to find and somewhat dramatic. I couldn't find (at least in the time I allowed myself) any car-related crime data to support my point that the likelihood of getting caught does more to deter crime than, say, the severity of the punishment.
Therefore, the stealth police car could be expected to catch more speeders, but would be unlikely to reduce the overall rate of speeding.
Does that help justify the use of such an egregious example? I'm not always (read:rarely) as clear as I should be, and my examples do tend to be "out there." I hope that my position (not wildly against nor wildly in favour of the new police cars) makes my example somewhat more legitimate...
But I digress.
And... procrastinate.
-Anon1152
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