The State Patrol is Out of Control

It was about 1:20 am, one night last week. I was the sober driver taking a group of revelers home. I turned off Lake Avenue to head north on I-35. As I got to the end of the ramp, I checked my mirror to make sure I had merging room. There was only one car on the road, several hundred yards back. As I moved into the right driving lane, the car to the rear passed me, going about 20 mph faster than my 50 mph. His two right tires were still in my lane.

I rarely see such aggressive driving behavior, and I seriously thought about calling 911 to make a complaint. I had a good description of the car and license plate, but I was pretty sure nothing would be done. The other car was a Minnesota State Patrol car.

The above is not an isolated incident. Not that long ago I made a safe left turn into the unoccupied left lane of a four lane section of US 2. Before my car was up to the 55 mph limit, there was a Minnesota State Patrol car on my tail. He passed me on the right doing well over 70, then continued to weave his way through the other traffic on the road. No lights, no siren, not even headlights as a warning. He eventually pulled up behind another car and flipped on the flashing lights, but not before he had unnerved several dozen other drivers with his aggressive driving.

The very same scenario plays out nearly every night on I-35 in downtown Duluth and other highways in the area. You'll glance in your mirror, see a car a ways back, then suddenly he's beside you and past, traveling well above the posted speed limit. No lights, no siren, just driving very fast, often weaving back and forth between lanes to pass cars of law abiding drivers.

The State Patrol has been quite zealous in seeking out possible drunk drivers in the past few years. Thought the claim is that it is in the interest of safety, it's really about economics. One drunk driving stop nets the government a fine of over $700, plus hundreds to thousands of dollars more for expenses such as getting your license back. One speeding ticket is only good for about $100. If the State Patrol writes enough tickets to drivers over the legal limit of 0.08 percent blood alcohol content, the state could balance the budget.

Just this week the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) issued a news release about the effectiveness of a speed enforcement program called HEAT (highway enforcement of aggressive traffic). The state received $2.5 million dollars in federal funds to pay for additional hours of traffic enforcement. In the first six months of the year-long program, there were nearly 15,000 citations issued for speeding. At a rough average of $100 fine per ticket, the state takes in an additional $1.5 million. Law enforcement officers wrote an additional 6,550 citations for "various offenses related to DWI, outstanding warrants, firearms, illegal substance/open bottle, and unbelted vehicle occupants."

Last summer's "Click It or Ticket" issued over 10,000 tickets for not wearing seat belts. At about $80 per, that's $800,000 plus into the state coffers.

It's easy to see that writing tickets provides a pretty good income for the state.

As for enforcement of aggressive traffic, the DPS needs to take a hard look at its own troopers. The State Patrol is out of control.