Originally Posted by
El Cid
It's my understanding that police, pretty well anywhere in Canada or the U.S., get a salary. Is the police budget affected in any way by traffic fines?
According to the article I posted, police in little places like Ferguson depend on fines to finance their operations as there is no local tax base.
More generally, I conclude from the emphasis police place on bulk ticketing for trivial offenses and their apparent unwillingness to enforce more difficult serious offenses that there is some connection between traffic fines and funding though not a direct one. Parking fines (enforced by the courts) are a direct city money-maker, of course.