Speed trap city accused of corruption, threatened with extinction

[mfcorey1]

Hampton, Florida (CNN) -- How off-the-charts corrupt do you have to be to capture somebody's attention in the Sunshine State?

You can lay claim to a 1,260-foot stretch of busy highway a mile outside of town and set up one of the nation's most notorious speed traps. You can use the ticket money to build up a mighty police force -- an officer for every 25 people in town -- and, residents say, let drugs run rampant while your cops sit out by the highway on lawn chairs, pointing radar guns at everybody who passes by.

Of course, none of those things are illegal. But when you lose track of the money and the mayor gets caught up in an oxy-dealing sting, that's when the politicians at the state Capitol in Tallahassee take notice.

Now they want this city gone, and the sooner the better.

A state audit of Hampton's books, released last month, reads like a primer on municipal malfeasance. It found 31 instances in which local rules or state or federal laws were violated in ways large and small.

Read the audit (PDF)

Somewhere along the way, the place became more than just a speed trap. Some say the ticket money corrupted Hampton, making it the dirtiest little town in Florida.

That's saying something, because Florida has seen enough civic shenanigans to lead the nation in federal corruption prosecutions and convictions, according to a watchdog organization called Integrity Florida. The group's 2012 study revealed that more than 1,760 of Florida's public officials had been convicted of corruption since 1976

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/09/us/hampton-florida-corruption/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Three other towns in FL are notorious for speed traps - Waldo, Starke and Lawtey

All on 301.

[Lochloosa]

6. ^^^THIS^^^ Lawtey annexed a small strip of land just to get to 301.

[Separation]

2. Yea that town sucks.

It's a HUGE speedtrap, traveling north on Hwy 301 is much faster than going on I-75. But because of this town I would normally hop back over to I75 before even getting close to this town.

I heard that they get around $600,000 a year on traffic citations. They also have/had a cop the nicknamed Rambo because he would have an M4 strapped on him when he approached cars.

The town needs to be taken off the map and merged into the county.

[Cleita]

3. Speed traps are common all over the country. In many places local

hospitality businesses give visitors maps of their town with little cartoons designating places to eat and other attractions. One of the maps we got in Texas had a cartoon motorcycle officer behind a billboard with speed trap spelled on the billboard. No one was even ashamed.

[JJChambers]

4. While corruption should be stamped out and thoroughly prosecuted,

I never really bought into the "speed trap" outrage. My simple solution to dealing with speed trips may seem quaint: I try not to speed. The one time I was stopped for speeding and received a citation, I didn't blame the officer for running a speed trap. I blamed myself for exceeding the posted limit.

YMMV

[okaawhatever]

7. Most speed traps come with ill-defined speed limit changes. How do you think they make so

much money? There aren't enough people speeding to afford one officer for every 25 citizens. In South Carolina they used to set up speed traps and if they caught you going a certain amount over the speed limit you either had to go to jail or pay cash on the spot. (If you had an out of state license). Those traps were on the way to Myrtle Beach. The only good thing was the tickets never showed up on your record.

[Brother Buzz]

5. Breaker! Breaker! Chuck Norris, please pick up the nearest white courtesy telephone.

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. shut down that corrupt town