UNBELIEVABLE!! MUST READ!!

by Eric Dondero

It's come to this. What started as advisory laws from state governments in the 1980s for citizens to "be safe," has morphed into a giant local governments sucking off the Big Mommy Federal Government tit program. So much so, in fact, that local cops are willing to commit outright fraud to gain those almighty Fed dollars.

This amazing, but oh-so-true story from TheCarConnection.com "Officer Tickets 215 Phantom Motorists For Seatbelt Violation" Aug. 19:

In June, the New Orleans Police Department received a federal grant that provides overtime pay to officers who help enforce seatbelt laws. Police salaries being what they are, the grant drew the attention of many officers, including one Glenn Gross.

Gross apparently issued the 215 tickets to "phantom motorists" in three months since the grant funds were awarded. Details of how he accomplished that feat haven't been released, but since he works in the department's information technology division -- or did, until he was arrested yesterday -- it sounds as if he could have created them from the relative comfort of his desk. Eventually, one of Gross' supervisors became suspicious and reported him to the Public Integrity Bureau, which conducted an investigation.

Side note - We're proud that we're one libertarian website that continually covers the seat belt law issue, unlike other so-called "libertarians." Photo credit - Fark.com