Just the Ticket

So I'm waiting for this meeting to start and this guy sitting next to me starts talking about his new car.

He just bought an AMG S55, the big Benz with the 500 hp engine, and took it to the interstate late one night to see what it could do.  He's cruising on one of the flattest, straightest stretches of highway you'll ever see, pushing the needle up beyond 100, then 110 and so on until he's zipping along near 150, marveling at the smooth ride while blasting Green Day's American Idiot.  Pure bliss. 

Then he sees the flashing lights in his rear view.

It takes him a while to slow down enough to pull over, all the while he's cursing, hitting his steering wheel, certain he'll be tagged for reckless driving, which at a minimum means you spend a night in jail and they take away your license for six months.  And just try to get car insurance with that on your record.

Anyways, the officer pulls in behind him, walks around the car, asks this guy how fast he thinks he was going.  This guy doesn't know what to say, should he admit he was driving that fast?  Before he can say anything, the officer starts lecturing him  on the dangers of driving fast, especially at night, do you know what would happen if you hit an animal at that speed?  It could kill you!  You should see what I see on this road.  I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ticket you. 

The officer writes up a ticket and this guy signs it, grateful he's not being cuffed, and after the officer drives away the guy just sits there for a while, shaking.  Then he looks at the ticket and notices the "85" written in the speed box.

Now here's where it gets interesting.  This guy is a member of an invitation-only foundation set up to assist the families of disabled or dead officers.  In addition to the good feelings one gets from giving to a worthy cause, the foundation offers its donors a special license plate frame that announces their membership in the foundation.  This license plate frame just happened to be on this guy's new car that night, so the officer who stopped him must have known that he supported families of fallen officers.

I ask him how much it costs to join the foundation.  He tells me a couple grand and he offers to sponsor me for membership.

Thus I find myself on the horns of a dilemma.

On the one hand, who wouldn't want to help the families of injured or killed officers?  I spend much of my life within the jurisdiction of these officers, commuting on their highways and occasionally indulging in some power weaving while wending my way to and from home.  I respect the work they do so long as they leave me alone.  Maybe I should add this good cause to my preferred list of charities.  At least it isn't one of those infernal shakedown operations.

On the other hand, it feels like graft, impure and simple.  If I buy a membership, my foundation license plate frame would be a constant reminder of my complicity in corruption.  It may be perfectly legal, and I have no reason to believe it isn't, but the whole license plate frame thing just screams out something I don't think I want to hear.

I suppose I could buy a membership and then throw out the license plate frame, but what would be the point of that? 

I told him I'd think about it.  If cost weren't an issue, would you join?

Comments

[Stan]

If cost were not an issue, I would join and throw away the plate frame just so that I would not find myself in the dilemma you describe. I would feel terrible getting a special break from a cop just because I gave to his favorite charity.

[Stan]

I forgot to say that the point of joining is that it is a worthwhile charity but one should not profit from charitable giving.

[Bob]

It is a shake down. I am always getting phone calls from the FOP asking for donations. In return one recieve a decal that goes in the backwindow. The instructions that with the decal tells one where to place it in the back window. I noticed a couple of times cops following me and they would suddenly drop off (In my younger days my right foot was a lot larger than my left). I removed my decal. Never got pulled over, but I was followed some pretty long distances. Several of my friends said that they got just warnings, not actual speeding tickets.

The bottom line is that it is a worthy cause, so I make a donation anonymously. Oh yeah, I have slowed down in my old age, though I did get a parking ticket recently.

[DarkoV]

What if this AMG S55 guy, who's in the foundation to assist the families of disabled or dead officers, had happened to, let's say, lost control of his car at high speed and crashed into a police cruiser, maiming or killing the police officer. Would the license plate frames, given that they weren't destroyed in this high speeed accident, lessen the sentence for Mr. AMG S55, if he survived.
Just asking. Wanted to know how far the plate frames would go in covering his irresponsible actions.

[Mrs. Peperium]

This sounds like algebra class.

[Girl Detective]

I am reminded of the Hebrew word "tzedaka", which is translated most often as "charity" but more accurately as "justice". The Talmud details the various types of charity/justice. Fairly high up the list (though not at the top) is giving anonymously, receiving no credit either from the recipient or others.

[Grubby]

I wouldn't join. You shouldn't join either. If you do you'll destroy one of my life lies and I'll be forced to start killing ducks. I could now make a pun about fowl murder, but I won't! Ta.

[Monjo]

This reminds me of a story I shall have to now share. A few years ago (10 maybe) my cousin (by marriage) was driving to work at 5am and crashed into a car going the wrong way on the A-road (which is a bit like a US Highway). The speed limit is 70mph. One witness told the police he was going 90-100mph and my cousin zoomed past him. My cousin wasn't wearing a seatbelt and the victim was a gentleman carer taking an elderly woman to some hospital.
Yet my cousin got off completely, just a scar on his chin. He is one of the nicest people anyone could possibly ever know and the fact is driving fast is not dangerous: Germany's autobahns used to have no limits - hence why Mercedes and BMWs are designed with a cruising speed of 150mph in mind.

Consider possibly the cop gave no preferential treatment for the licence plate, but because of the time of day, he harmed no-one, and that a big fine and a loss of the licence would have been harsh.