Police Now Going Undercover as Construction Workers

East Moline, IL — The Free Thought Project has reported on many stories over the years about police schemes designed to separate the citizens from their money but carried out under the ostensible notion of “keeping you safe.” One of these cases has surfaced out of Illinois recently showing just how far police will go to ticket people for alleged traffic offenses.

Cops in Illinois are going under cover as construction workers to catch people violating traffic laws.

“Somebody is going to get hurt,” disguised Illinois State Trooper Ron Salier told WQAD.“That’s why we’re out here. We are trying to make a difference and educate people.”

Police are donning their construction worker equipment and their radar detectors and they are pulling unwitting motorists over by the dozen. Naturally, they are claiming it is to keep you safe and not to raise funds.

“It’s not about writing tickets,” Illinois State Trooper Jason Wilson said. “It’s not about pulling people over, it’s about keeping people safe.”

Related: Chicago’s Top Cop Admits Officers ‘Look the Other Way’ When Fellow Cops Break Laws

While this may seem like an altruistic approach to stopping people from dangerously speeding through construction zones, police departments across the country are dependent upon issuing traffic tickets for their survival.

As a result of this reliance on revenue collection through traffic citations, countless police departments in America are constantly caught enforcing ticket quotasdespite this practice being entirely illegal.

What’s more, tickets issued in a construction zone are far more expensive than other areas which make them a great fishing ground for issuing citations.

According to Blatti Law, as WGN points out, a first-offense speeding ticket in a construction zone is penalized by a $375 fine.  A second offense could bring a $1,000 fine and a 90-day driver’s license suspension.

Up until they decided to go undercover, police were parking their actual patrol cars near the construction zones. However, this likely made people slow down, and thus police couldn’t write as many tickets. So, they found a work around.