• Can't We Just Rent A Cop?

As many of us are aware, there are many areas of Wildomar that could use a good dose of traffic patrol. 

On one recent facebook topic I suggested hiring a dedicated deputy to write tickets at various hot spots in town.

My thought came from what I know of San Juan Cap's similar practice. My brother's father-in-law is a retired OC Deputy and he happens to live on Ortega Hwy, about a mile from the 5 freeway. I've discussed with him, the fact that there is a motorcycle cop there, cherry picking speeders all the time. He told me that his city had contracted with the OC Sheriff to have that patrolled.

So I mused: we should do the same thing in Wildomar, not really giving much thought to the logistics of it.

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About a week or so later, Council Member Bridgette Moore sent me the following email:

I saw a post about why don't we have the police write tickets and pay for their salary. 

Please see the attached example of how the ticket revenue is allocated.  In the example, Wildomar would get about $16 (8%)  from a $197 ticket.

The "cost" of a police officer is about $138 per hour, including additional police related costs, times 2,080 hours per year = $288,000.  At $16 of revenue per ticket, 18,000 tickets per year pays for one officer or 8.7 tickets per hour need to be written by each officer to break even.

Hope that helps to explain.

For more fun reading, here is a copy of where the money goes when you get a ticket.

Yes we want the traffic laws enforced and we want the drivers to back off their general careless attitudes too. Still, in the end I really do NOT want to have a bunch of cops lurking about with the sole mission of writing traffic tickets all day. Very few of us follow all the laws to a T in all situations and imagine the consternation of getting hoist on our own petard, (look it up, it's a great reference), thinking hiring ticket writers would actually make drivers more respectful. 

Shakespeare doth not fear the petard. 

So, another fanciful thought perishes to the cruel mistress of reality.

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