Australian law enforcement continues to baffle me. Harsh penalties for nothing, and slaps on the wrist for violent offenders. I don’t get it. Victorian law enforcement seems to be particularly nutty sometimes.
While reading some news at The Age I came across an article: Experts pan public mobile speed camera plan
The last paragraph struck me as odd, and quite frankly, a dangerous step along a slippery slope:
The police also announced yesterday that they had begun enforcing 40km/h speed limits in school zones, despite the fact classes do not begin for most schools until Friday.
Those speed limits are enforced only during school days and only during specific hours, i.e. the times in the morning when kids get to school, and the times when they leave school, with a sufficient margin around them for early comers and late comers.
But enforcing laws outside of their mandated domain seems like a very dangerous thing.
Imagine being arrested for indecent exposure while you are in your own home. Or for not paying your taxes before they are due. Or… Whatever it is, it’s bad policy to arbitrarily make up the law as you go. Laws and law enforcement need to be reasonable and they need to be predictable.
It’s an ongoing thing that I see though. Not just here in Victoria, Australia, but elsewhere as well. Governments act with total disregard for their subjects.
