David

You reminded me of something I forgot to mention. Sheriff’s offices and some police departments may or may not send an officer to fight the ticket as their officers would be in court every day. The exception to this is the Florida Highway Patrol. They pretty much always show up.

Having said that and even knowing that, My mom got hit by someone and the judge tossed the case against the woman who hit my Mom because the trooper never showed up. Good for the woman who got, Count them, FIVE tickets in that case, and all were tossed due to the trooper not showing up for court. Mom had to file against her own insurance and then they dropped her.

Cherokeejack
I can verify you are right on . Fought tickets twice and won both times. Don’t know about the newer radar guns but the older ones were only accurate 90%. And if the officer is moving it’s hard to verify that even. Many other factors also come into play.
As far as the money they spend on registry details , I’m sure they fudge there books to make it look like there spending a lot more on registry compliance and other related items than they really are. Like when they are really working on something else but to get extra funds they will cook the books.

Truth

My main contribution to your question about law enforcement and funding would be the following. This is especially relevant in smaller cities and towns that have their own police departments. If you pull records from some smaller cities, you will often see they write up to 50 times more tickets than larger departments.

Now one would think larger departments would write more tickets since they have more officers. The answer lies mostly in the fact that small cities and towns have smaller budgets. If they want to hire a new officer or replace a patrol car, that alone can eat up almost an entire budget. To make up for that, pressure from the top suggest more tickets be written.

If you have ever been pulled over for going 38 in a 35, some officers will fudge a bit and say you were doing 40 in a 35. Also we all know that School and construction zones are a zero tolerance exception and you can literally get a ticket for going 32 in a 30.

Even while on the registry, I have only gotten one ticket, I went to court and fought it and won. I suggest if you get an unfair ticket you fight it in person if you are a confident person. In larger cities most of the time the officer doesn’t even show up because that takes an officer off the street. If they fought every single ticket, there would be no officers on the street.

Even if you lose, most of the time there is no additionally penalty, you just have to still pay the ticket. And here is the biggie. If there are no other witnesses and the officer doesn’t show up, most of the time the judge will throw the ticket out. Keep in mind though, if you fight a red light or speeding camera ticket, you better review the footage before you go to court as they can come back to bite you. Cameras are even better than an officers words because cameras do not lie, unless a hacker altered it which mostly doesn’t happen.

Finally, you have a right to fight a ticket, just like you do a charge. No need for a lawyer on fighting “Most” tickets other than say you got arrested for hitting a car that caused death or bodily harm (You might want a lawyer for that). I helped an elderly friend with fighting a ticket (He passed away a few years ago) and I told him just what to do in court and he got the ticket tossed.

Spinning back around to how the registry is related to all this, the registry was a wind fall for many departments. Just like when Military surplus equipment was becoming available to departments. What does a city or town with 4 officers need a anti-assault vehicle for? To take over a larger city?

But yes, even smaller departments are requesting and getting registry enforcement funding. They get that money and hire an additional officer they normally couldn’t afford. As long as “Supposedly” 51% of that officers job revolves around compliance of the registry.

So in theory, a department could double their staff with these funds. And I am pretty sure there is not a lot of verification going on, so some small cities might not even have a single registered person in the city limits and still get the funding. That is called fraud, which the last time I looked, is a crime.

I concur with your “humble opinion.” I would add that I wonder why more advocates do not mention that registrants are the “Cash Cow” for the the entire Legal Industrial Complex. Legislators must make new laws to justify their existence and citizens required to register are such easy targets. This same exploitation trickles down through prisons and staff, probation and parole, all the way down to police, sheriffs, and marshals. Perhaps even worse are prosecutors who can manipulate the law with no consequences.

TO: Brandon and FAC

A round of hugs are in order 🙂

it’s ok

CherokeeJack

Sometimes I take things to the extreme especially when I’m frustrated and want to vent; which feels good at the time but in the end makes me misrepresent myself. When someone asks a question or @ you it’s my natural instinct to respond even if it’s off topic. Most of time I don’t read every comment someone makes, so I’m unaware of certain details. Honestly I forget this a forum and for me it’s been a place to vent and have conversations with others in your shoes. I can’t imagine what’s it’s like to be a moderator and the decision of allowing a comment or not has got be frustrating. I’ve never meant to be that person and now I feel horrible about the way I conducted myself.

To FAC #3 sorry for any of the stress or frustration I may have caused you.

Guys – I moderated your comments.

Please reference this post: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/moderation-of-comments/

Then, please consider some of Brandon’s posts which were moderated out (ie: deleted) just yesterday, “Jack Brown and Eric Bates are characters from The Toy(1982) staring Jackie Gleason, Ned Betty, and Richard Pryor. It’s a good watch with humor that’s if your not easily offended by crude jokes. I watch it on Blue Ray whenever I need a laugh.”

That was after I previously allowed several posts through but wrote, “Comments about movie characters are not on topic.”

This is a public forum where people come to discuss registry issues. I completely agree that those were wonderful actors and a great film. I am not censoring your point of view, I’m trying to keep this thread on topic.

Please also consider another of Brandon’s comments from earlier this week that got junked, “I have no faith in Florida and I hope the state becomes a s*** stain of our country and I have no faith in Florida’s voters because they allow this s***. Florida needs to rot in Hell and Senator ***** Is a good for nothing fat ass b****.” Note that I inserted the *’s the original version contained the senator’s name and all the cursing.

Our code of conduct requires, “Members are required to treat other FAC Members, politicians, police, probation officers, treatment providers, members of the media as well as all third parties with whom FAC interacts, with respect, dignity, honesty and fairness”. Calling a senator a “fat ass b****” is not treating others with respect. If Brandon would have written, “I disagree with Senator **** and think her bill is completely misguided because X, Y and Z” of course it would have been allowed. But not as it was written.

As one of the moderators of the forum, I realize my task is somewhat subjective. If, after you’ve read through the code of conduct and read the rejected posts I shared above, you think I got it wrong, please reply and I’ll consider your thoughts.

Brandon

Yes they do not want this to be an endless chatroom that takes up the moderators time approving. Although I agree with that to a point, I do get Extremely frustrated when they allow haters to come on here and talk about how those on the registry should be murdered.
FAC states they allow it so others can see how we are treated. My statement is, no it shows other bad actors that, that is an accepted behavior by FAC and that anyone can come on here and harass us.