Excessive Tickets Raping Californians

California

I need to know if other Californians have experienced this problem. In the last two months, my husband and I have received five tickets! These range from a parking ticket to drinking on the beach. Did you know that before Gov. Terminator came into office, a ticket for drinking on the beach was $25.00; not its $110.00! We were found drinking a $8.00 bottle of wine on the beach when a Sheriff's helicopter scanned the beach and "caught" us with a telephoto lens. Then, out of nowhere, two sheriffs pulled up on 4-wheelers. Not only did my husband get a ticket, we both did. A total of $220.00 in fines for an $8.00 bottle of wine. When we offered to pour it out to avoid the fine, the sheriff told us "You might as well drink it; you are going to get the ticket anyway".

Is it my imagination or are the police, sheriff, etc. on high alert for ticket-issuing? Are they getting bonuses for how many tickets they issue? Let me know if anybody has had the same problem. I'm considering a class-action lawsuit.

[CdwJava]

No, we do NOT get bonuses ... no, enforcement has not gone up dramatically since Gov. Schwarzenegger took office - though it is a way of boosting some local revenues.

Bottom line is the tickets are created by your actions - not by anyone else's. And fines have risen as court costs have risen and local governments have been permitted to recover their costs through assessments that can be added to citations.

So, complain all you want. But, if you park legally, and do not illegally bring alcohol onto the beach, you won't get in trouble.

And the class-action idea is simply ludicrous! Suing for local government enforcing their local ordinances!? Just HOW do you think that creates a tort?

Carl

Yes. I've experienced this... Last year I went to get my car smogged and got denied due to a visual inspection defect. It took me too long to get the defect corrected and the item reinspected in time for me to get a signed off smog cert (though I did do this within about a week of the expiration date of my tags and supplied the updated info to the state via mail). In the mean time, I got tickets for expired tags at the rate of about 1 every three days... The state refused to issue me new tags until all tickets were paid. I would duly mail off the $25 payment for each ticket and await my new tags. Before new tags would ever get sent, I would get more tickets, thereby further delaying the sending of the new tags. This went on for about 6 months and cost me over $2,000 including a ticket issued by a patrol car who were not interested in hearing my story even though they were able to verfiy that my car was properly registered and that my smog and everything was all paid and up to date via their radio... That ticket eventually got me booted and I had to pay further fees and such to get my car back.

I finally solved it by parking my car deep inside the parking lot at my office for about 2 weeks after paying up all tickets and requesting multiple times that my tags be mailed to me.. They finally were, once all payments had cleared and I had kept my expired tags out of view of the meter monkeys. Regardless, this is a ridiculous catch-22 and the fact that at one point I got a ticket for the same infraction on a DAILY basis (right before I hid the car away) really frosted me. I have now taken to writing my own pseudo tickets and placing them on the meter monkeys' cars every time I see them parked illegally (one of them is in the habit of parking in a pretty dangerously located red zone right near my home while he has lunch at the pizza joint on the corner.

Hi Rebecca,
I have a question for you. The ticket you received on the beach for the wine (sorry about that) did you receive two tickets with the same citation #? Same thing happened to me but I received one ticket from the California Highway Patrol and one ticket (same citation#) from the Los Angeles County Sheriff. Do I have to pay both??? That would be crazy. I hope you can help me. I can't get ahold of anyone at the courthouse as the phone takes forever. Appreciate any advice. Thanks!

[AmanO]

How many tickets does it take to pay for that expensive helicopter ride?

[The Occultist]

Originally Posted by AmanO

How many tickets does it take to pay for that expensive helicopter ride?

This thread is over three and half years old; please do not necro-post.

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by AmanO

How many tickets does it take to pay for that expensive helicopter ride?

They don't.

- Carl

[FlyingRon]

At least this one didn't have an old IAAL post in it.

[The Occultist]

Touche, Ron!