When a Private Citizen Tries to Get People to Obey Speeding Laws, That’s a Crime!

Why? Because getting people to obey the law could cost the city
some speeding fine bucks! Maddening story out of Frisco, Texas
(warning: locals hate it if you call their town “San
Francisco”),
reported by local TV station KHOU:

 Ron Martin argues he has a First Amendment right to warn
drivers of a police speed trap in his community after officers
arrested him for violating the city’s sign ordinance.

Officers handcuffed Martin along Eldorado Parkway near Preston
Road last October for holding a sign that alerted drivers to a
speed trap nearby.

“I observed a couple cars drive by traveling westbound waving at
us,” the police officer wrote in Martin’s arrest report. “Mr.
Martin was observed standing in the center median of the six-lane
divided roadway … holding a sign in his right hand up over his
shoulders that read ‘Police Ahead.'”

When two officers left the enforcement area and drove over to
Martin, he pulled out his mobile phone and used it to record his
own arrest….

On Wednesday afternoon, he made his first court appearance on
the misdemeanor charge.

“Ultimately, we’re trying to do the exact same thing,” Martin
insisted. “I just don’t wear a uniform. I’m the same thing as a
speed limit sign, just reminding people that there is a limit
here.”…..

Still, Frisco police cited him for violating the city’s sign
ordinance, which says the person holding a sign has to be on
private property.

Martin was in the median….The issue is bigger than a
simple sign along a busy road, Martin insisted — it’s free
speech.

I wrote last week of some intriguing old research
indicating that cops just sitting by side of the road is nearly as
effective as active ticketing in reducing injury accidents–and
that cops merely giving warnings might be more
effective than ticketing. But again, that puts no money in the
city’s pocket.