Monday, August 11, 2008

Highway Patrol Salaries -- The Revenuers are at it all the time....

Ohio State Highway Patrol Lieutenant in trouble over relationship.

She makes 81K/year as an administrator.

Which brings us to another item:

How much do OSHP Troopers make and are they worth it?

Ohio State Troopers Earn Salary in Speeding Tickets

The top state police officers in Ohio earn far more than their annual salary in traffic tickets issued.

At least 57 Ohio state troopers brought in six-figure revenue from speeding tickets last year.

According to a Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper analysis, the Ohio Highway Patrol issued 563,565 tickets in 2006. Fifty-seven troopers reached the magic "1000 ticket" mark by writing at least that many citations for a number of offenses -- most often for speeding.

The state's top trooper was responsible for writing a total of 1530 citations. With speeding tickets averaging between $100 to $500, that lawman single-handedly brought in between $153,000 and $765,000 in state and municipal revenue.

Although the Ohio Highway Patrol technically receives its funding from a transportation account funded by gas taxes, increased general revenue from tickets allows lawmakers to spend more on other priorities. These priorities sometimes include additional funding for new state police programs.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I bet if you or one of your family members got into a traffic crash, you would want a State Trooper there to help you out. How many Troopers have saved people's lives? Can you count that high? And finally, can you put a price tag on someone's life. Can you put a price tag on your own life? These guys have to put up with so much on a daily basis...Could you stand taking constant abuse day in and day out! Talk about a thankless job. Give these guys a break. And another thing, If you obey the LAW, you don't have to meet one of these men or women!

jackscrow said...

You care to address any part of the article, Anonymous?

I have no pts on my license. I drive 500+ miles each week to and from work. I observe OSHP behavior in many different traffic flows. They very seldom enforce safety -- in fact, it's pretty hard to find them where the driving is dangerous. But, if you are on the 33 bypass, or off on a county road somewhere, low-and-behold, there's a trooper, hiding out with his little (and I do mean little) radar gun.

Most of your post makes no sense -- troopers don't normally save lives, EMTs do. So let's give the OSHP money to EMTs and let the County Sheriffs, who work for the voters and not for the State government, take over traffic enforcement.

I'd bet there'd be more jobs, more local autonomy with no OSHP. It would get a big, self-perpetuating Bureaucracy out of the way and allow the locals police themselves.

Anonymous said...

Mr. or Ms. Jackscrow,
You really have no clue what State Troopers really do. You might want to educate yourself. The Deputies in this State and other States do the least and most Counties have problems with weight. Ohio State Highway Patrol is the best and they continue it every day.