We're going to get you....

I've had a thought about the "blue lives matter" issue, where there is an outcry about the risks police take and the disrespect they experience.

First, I am enthusiastically in support of our police.  I think the public needs to remember that a police officer goes to work every morning with his/her life at risk.  Some more than others,  these people have the often thankless job of protecting our safety as first responders.

This being true, there is a problem I think the police produce for themselves.  The "gotcha" approach to the public can be seen most often when police hide their cars behind bushes, buildings, or landforms in "speed traps".  As a matter of fact, I think this is the most common view I have of police officers, in others words, I see them doing this more than I see anything else.

While I certainly think that traffic laws are important, and I think that having police available to respond to traffic incidents, I also think that they do no favors for their image as the friend of the public when they set up ambushes for unwary members of the public doing 61 in a 50 mph zone.

It is common for drivers and passengers to respond to seeing them in their hideout with "oooh...look...a cop", as thought they've spotted the enemy.  When there are kids in the car, this flows into the image that "cops" are some sort of enemy, we need to keep a lookout for them.

In addition to this public image problem, it seems to me that there is an inordinate proportion of law enforcement money spent on the "traffic cop", in manpower, fuel, vehicles, and effort.  If, for example, there were no cops driving around spying out unwary citizens, think of the amount of manpower, fuel, vehicles, and effort that would be released for either force reduction or added into increasing the quality of response to or prevention of other crimes.

This, I believe, is achievable.  In fact, I propose that what cops do hiding behind roadside obstacles could be achieved completely and 100% more efficiently by automation and sensors.  Roadside speed detectors and cameras detect and record 100% of offenders, that line being set by the operator.  If every single time you pass a certain point your speed is measured and you receive a bill in the mail when you violate, it is common sense you will obey the law.  I suggest that this approach would enable us to increase speed limits to the average ACTUAL speed of traffic and bust all of the violators.  It can also be used to enforce stop lights and other traffic laws that contribute to public safety.  In fact, it seems logical that this approach would pay for itself as the increase in collections occur.

The result would be efficiency in using the human policing activities, and will reduce what appears to me a negative connotation of police officers as an "enemy" setting up an ambush.  The manpower released by this approach can be redirected to public support policing activities where the public face of police officers is friendly, helpful members of the community we can all respect.