Ferguson, MO Traffic Cops, aka Wannabe Imperial Stormtroopers,
Marching to Route the Scourge of Jaywalking from City Streets, 11/24/2014
The Legislative session in Missouri is nearly over, and the Republican controlled State Legislature actually managed to pass, and send to Governor Nixon, a fig leaf of a scrap of reform, in response to law enforcement abuses in places like Ferguson, Missouri.
As the New York Times described it:
The revenue bill, which caps the amount of general operating revenue from traffic tickets a municipality can collect at 12.5 percent, down from 30 percent, was sent to the desk of Gov. Jay Nixon after passing both chambers with bipartisan support this week. It seeks to address complaints of excessive ticketing raised by black residents after Mr. Brown’s death in August — concerns that were echoed in a harshly critical Justice Department report on the Ferguson police and court system released this year that described how the city bankrolled its operations by aggressively fining poor people for minor violations.
The NYT report also suggests that this may be the only Ferguson inspired reform to make it out of the Republican Legislature.
The municipal court bill was one of several pieces of legislation proposed in the aftermath of the Ferguson unrest, including one that would require police officers to wear body cameras while patrolling and another that would tighten rules on when officers can use deadly force. But with the legislative session scheduled to end next week, it is unclear whether any of those measures will be enacted.
Well, I think we can forget about body cameras or rules for use of deadly force. The Missouri Legislature barely passed the traffic fine reforms. According to a local St. Louis radio report, a compromise allowing a higher percentage of municipal revenue from traffic fines in the Republican hinterland (and Kansas City), was necessary to move the bill forward in the Republican controlled Legislature:
Negotiators in the House and Senate came to an agreement that would cap fine collection and change operations at municipal courts. The proposal comes in the wake of a Justice Department report that found Ferguson’s municipal courts operated primarily to generate revenue.
The proposal would lower the percentage of revenue cities could collect from 30 percent to 20 percent. Towns in St. Louis Count would see their limit drop to 12.5 percent. The measure needs a final vote in the House and Senate before it heads to Governor Jay Nixon.
Given the kind of horse trading required to get this scrap of a reform passed, we can expect the other proposed reforms, referenced by the New York Times, to die at the end of the session.
Folks in Jefferson City are patting themselves on the back for doing something about Ferguson. But, while what they did isn't nothing, it's not much, either. This is like a cold compress, mere palliative care, when the patient really needs surgery to root out the disease.
Missouri Republican Governance - Short Change You Can Believe In