More on speeding tickets

ESSEX COUNTY DA ASKS FOR HELP WITH TICKETS:

Gov. George Pataki's veto of a bill that would have allowed State Police to continue to plea-bargain traffic tickets is going to cost Essex County a lot of money.

Although some counties were already prosecuting and plea-bargaining traffic tickets, Essex County wasn't one of them.

County District Attorney Julie Garcia said Monday her office needs an additional full-time assistant DA and a full-time secretary to handle the workload that's coming when State Police end ticket plea bargaining.
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Prosecuting violations isn't itself a big burden to assume, Garcia said, but many towns have sections on the heavily patrolled Adirondack Northway.

"These Northway towns have thousands of tickets written. We're going to have to hire someone to help us prosecute all these traffic tickets."

The cost of another assistant DA is estimated to be $55,000 to $70,000, plus benefits.

Local justices are concerned about what happens now, she said.
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Supervisor Ronald Jackson (R-Essex) has questioned what the consequences would be if the county didn't plea-bargain tickets.

"We could decline to prosecute the ticket, period, but we don't really want to do that," Garcia said.

"If we say we're not going to plea-bargain a speeding ticket, all that fine money goes to New York state."

Not plea bargaining would also mean more local justice court trials, further impeding the system.