So here's my latest "so crazy it just might work" brainstorm. Note: In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that my usual--and long-suffering--sounding-board--a.k.a. Dennis doesn't think it'll work. So I will merely leave my gentle reader to corroborate Dennis' opinion--or not.
With the earlier onset of evening we've all no doubt noticed in the last month, I've noticed that folks around La Crosse still seem to think that the calendar's set to something like late June. At least so far as not having their lights on at the right times of day. It's annoying enough that I'm flashing my lights at grey vans and black SUVs that just materialized out the the twilight in an attempt to alert them to the fact that they're not stealth bombers, for crying' in yer beer. But I have yet to see a single one correct their violation of traffic statutes by turning on their headlights.
And as much as I happen to think that the La Crosse Police Dept. could actually make a dent in our tax rates if they'd step up and start busting these twits, maybe this is one of those situations where privitization would actually not make things suck even more.
So here's what I had in mind: Any citizen who is eligible to be bonded can purchase a digital camera from the city/county/state (whatever the appropriate jurisdiction may be). Said cameras would be set up to upload photos, timestamp and geolocation to a central server. Those who purchase the cameras--actual investment of cash being necessary to weed out the time-wasters--are then eligible to stand on street corners, roadsides, what-have-you and photograph the license plates of cars that fail to run with their lights on at the appropriate hours. The license plate and related data is uploaded, the appropriate jurisdiction issues a citation, takes a cut for administrative costs, and the camera-purchaser banks the rest.
Now, we already know about the cameras at traffic intersections busting motorists for running red lights, speeding, or what-have-you. Thus, having an officer present at the scene of the traffic violation is no longer a necessity.
But farming out revenue collection has an even longer pedigree...and one as illustrious as St. Matthew, whose first career was as a tax "collector" for the Romans in Judea. (If you're not too up on ancient history, the only thing you need to understand is that the quotations around "collector" are there for good reason: Ad-hoc extortion would be the more accurate term.) But in this case, the geo-location and date/time data included with the photographic evidence would be more than enough to prevent fraud--particularly if the photos were uploaded directly from the camera.
So. All I'm saying is that there's plenty of precedent--not only for the technology but even the economic model itself. If the upshot is that people start driving like the responsible adults they're supposed to be, awesome. And if the upshot is that some law-abiding, enterprising folks make a few bucks off the abundance of idiots we seem to have around here, I'm down with that too. Frankly, I don't see a downside: Who's with me on this?
