May 30
Snohomish County Police to Make Traffic Stops From Airplanes
Remember the VCR? Your first computer? Your first cell phone? These technological advances allowed you to make your life more enjoyable and/or simpler. But did you think airplanes were only used for travel? Not in the State of Washington. Here, police in airplanes could land you in jail. This is how it works: Police fly in airplanes, which you as a taxpayer fund, so that police can communicate with citizens who are driving so that citizens can call in "drunk drivers" and the police can stop them. In Snohomish County, if you change lanes too quickly, drive too fast or slow, you are at risk of getting stopped by the police. This is because a driver on the road can use his/her cell phone to call the police. In turn, this anonymous citizen report will be sent to the police on an airplane. Police in the air will then direct police on the ground to make a traffic stop. All based on your fellow citizen, who the police encouraged to phone in impaired drivers. If you're not drunk, but instead you were just speeding or traveling too slow, you may still be stopped. In many ways, the officers will have an incentive to give you a ticket - after all, fuel for airplanes and officers' salaries are expensive, and police officers need to justifiy these expenses for continued funding. Beware of the eyes in the sky, and happy driving which you focus on the road.
