Home >Police Enforcement > Tickets and Cash > Louisiana: Federally Funded Speed Trap Busted for Corruption

Related News Virginia Issues $238 Million in Traffic Tickets New Jersey: Bar Owner Sues Cop for Parking Ticket Extortion Rhode Island Supreme Court Backs Thin Blue Line Ohio: Federal Judge Upholds Traffic Stop for Violation Created by Cop Michigan Partially Repeals Speeding Ticket Tax View Main Topics: Camera Enforcement    Speed Cameras    Red Light Cameras    Revenue from Cameras    Camera Accuracy    Engineering/Signals Police Enforcement    Random Checkpoints    Speed Limits/Traps    Tickets and Cash    Seizure/Confiscation    Parking Tickets    Taxes and Tolls    Drunk Driving Laws Miscellaneous Issues    Miscellaneous    Hypocrisy    Bad Policy and Injustice    Propaganda    New Technologies    Privacy Issues The Revolt    Protests    Camera Destruction Subscribe via RSS or E-Mail Back To Front Page

2/21/2009 Louisiana: Federally Funded Speed Trap Busted for Corruption Waterproof, Louisiana mayor and police chief arrested for corruption. The pair received federal grants to create speed traps. The mayor and police chief of a federally funded Louisiana speed trap town were arrested Wednesday on felony corruption charges. A Tensas Parish Grand Jury indicted Waterproof Mayor Bobby Higginbotham for felony theft, malfeasance in office, payroll fraud and using public funds for personal use. Waterproof Police Chief Miles Jenkins faces three felony counts for receiving bonuses for meeting traffic ticket quotas and altering traffic citations. The activities of both officials were fueled by federal taxpayer dollars. In 2007, Higginbotham received $37,500 from the US Department of Agriculture Rural Development's Community Facilities Program for the purchase of two police cars fully equipped with the latest speed detection equipment. Higginbotham ordered Miles to use these vehicles to prey on State Highway 65 travelers as the speed limit dropped without warning to 45 MPH within the town limits. "They have the nicest police cars in Louisiana," one commenter on the National Motorists Association Speed Trap Exchange website observed. "However they are the most unprofessionally dressed cops I've ever seen." Even before the arrival of the new cruisers, Waterproof earned 37 percent of its budget from speeding tickets, according to a 2007 report by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor. Higginbotham and Jenkins are out on bond awaiting trial. Louisiana State Police officials say the investigation into their activities is ongoing.

Front Page | Get Updates | Site Map | News Achive | Search | theNewspaper.com: A journal of the politics of driving