On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver uncovers the underhanded way some municipalities (like Ferguson) are funded by traffic fines that are disastrous to the poor and middle classes. If a traffic fine is a mere inconvenience to you, you either are among the moderately affluent, or your city hasn’t adopted the draconian schedule of fees and interest that can lead to human ruination. Eric Holder found that Ferguson targeted a certain population for financial harassment, and some cities have become even more ‘organized’ about the process, and as you’ve suspected, police (in many cities) do compete to see who writes the most tickets. As fair minded people, I think you will be moved to action when you hear John describe how these greedy programs work. First, note the grinch-man in green. This is Deputy Marcus Robinson of Orange County Florida. The Deputy is ‘Grinchy’ for good reason. Here he’s showing off for the news crew, by dumping large bags of revoked licenses on the ground.Each was ‘lost’ by someone unable to pay the climbing fees and interest…But that’s not how he explains it.
“We’re sending a message that if you’re gonna come out here and your gonna drive in a manner that impacts someone’s life or safety then we’re gonna impound your license.”
“Safety” please! And a Grinchy Holiday to you Deputy! A news anchor sifts through the piles and finds that the licenses aren’t those of felons, drunk drivers or Bonnie and Clyde wanna-be’s. The licenses belong to people who are too poor to pay the fines for parking and minor traffic tickets in the first place, and certainly not after the ballooning interest and fees have been tacked on. Each of them is a tale of a life in ruin. Often there is no public transportation, consequently a job is lost, and a family suffers..Often for something as minor as forgetting to buckle a seat belt.
A lot of heartache is caused in great part to the new for-profit Private Probation Companies like the nation-wide ‘Sentinel Offender Services’ – after private prisons, what could possibly go wrong? Not long ago, community service was an option for people who had no other way to help pay off minor fines. Private probation companies . don’t profit from that quaint idea. These companies operate more like the scum-sucking collection agencies that buys consumer debt for pennies on the dollar, then phone night and day with threats, insults and ultimatums.
The difference is, there is a statute of limitations on the credit companies, and there is a limit to the amount of fees they can pile on. The Probation folks have no limit – time or monetarily. They can add fees and interest – when you are paying your agreed amount, on time, until you feel like Sisyphus pushing a boulder up that hill, because none of the money you pay will ever touch the fine you owe. How can that be legal?
Once again, John rallies those who thirst for justice, who want to right wrongs, but don’t have time to throw on a spandex suit and think up a new superhero name. We viewers have made a difference before. Think of Net Neutrality. We crashed the FCC servers! Let’s do it again.
It’s about race. It’s also about basic fairness. We all do a little something that could put us in the F** Barrel, at some point in our lives.
IF you feel that private companies should not be profiting from our inability to pay, then hie thee to Twitter, and as John says:
#SHUT DOWN THE F**K BARREL It’s the right thing to do.