I was interviewed today by a reporter writing a piece for a magazine here in LA. It was wide ranging and I probably made a fool of myself — It was recorded. But one thing was interesting. I said that I felt that people didn’t like receiving parking tickets because they felt that charging for parking was absurd and particularly if they were 25 cents late for a meter that a $50 ticket was unfair. I juxtaposed this to a traffic ticket where if we ran a red light or was caught going 35 mph over the speed limit, we knew in our heart of hearts that the ticket was legit and that we had broken a legitimate law.
He responded that he thought it was because parking enforcement officers were mostly black or Latino and white people yelled at them because of their race. Of course all CHP and Traffic officers are white so we don’t get as upset getting a ticket from them.
Frankly I was stunned and started yelling. He backed off and said he didn’t want an argument. Well if he didn’t want one, he shouldn’t have pulled that little challenge out of his pocket.
I noted that many minorities get parking tickets and they seemed just as steamed as the white folks. I was able to get myself under control and finish the interview, but his comment was just one more for my list of idiocy that is touted by the MSM. It also was an example of how reporters try to bend the conversation to fit their template. He may have been baiting me and if he was, he got a different fish than he expected.
Wow
JVH
One Response
What a preposterous statement!
Back when I first started in this industry in the early 1980’s I was working both as a reserve police officer and a PEO. I always found it fascinating that I could arrest someone for some horrible crime and they would meekly submit as I handcuffed them and placed them in the back of my patrol car. But issue them a parking ticket and I was assaulted with everything from spittle to baseball bats. Oh yeah, I was exactly the same color in both jobs…