If drivers were angels…

Speeding and other traffic complaints continue to be one of the major sources of calls to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Dan Coverley said on Monday.

We’ve remarked elsewhere that over the past few years, it doesn’t seem like we as a society have suddenly become better drivers.

And he doesn’t expect that the conversion of Nevada’s traffic citations from criminal to civil will improve matters.

Set aside the fact that traffic citations raise around $620,000 a year for county coffers, though being able to issue a warrant for someone who hasn’t paid a traffic ticket is a pretty effective collection tool.

There are people in this world who interpret a failure to hold them accountable for their actions as a sign of weakness, not kindness. 

The worst thing you can do to a human being is let them get away with something.

Last year, the Nevada Supreme Court’s Jimenez decision shifted the burden to prove the need for cash bail from the defendant to the prosecution. Unless a prosecutor, who has had a case for maybe a couple of hours, can argue that a defendant poses a danger to the community or is unlikely to return to court, that person is released on their own recognizance.

We watch the courts as closely as any media outlet in the Silver State and the demonstrable result has been a literal “get out of jail free,” card.

We’ve actually heard from offenders that they interpret their release as an indication that what they did must not have been that bad.

To paraphrase James Madison, “If people were angels, no government would be necessary.”

Or as Sheriff Coverley said Monday, “When a black and white is next to you, you tend to mind your P’s and Q’s.” 

But for some, that good behavior evaporates fairly quickly once the patrol deputy is out of sight.