Top cop calls traffic court bill 'common sense'
TThe Sun's Justin Fenton passes along this dicussion of a pending bill with Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld on WEAA's Marc Steiner Show. It follows a Getting There column that criticized House Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph Vallario's response to the bill and apparent disdain for the testimony of police witnesses including Bealefeld.
The bill would put the burden on drivers who receive traffic tickets to request a trial if they want a day in court. Right now, Maryland automatically assigns a court date and many defendants fail to show up for trial -- a system that wastes police resources, chiefs say.
I don't have any personal animus for Chairman Vallario. he's consistent in the manner he runs his committees. So I don't have an axe to grind. I am a little put back about and was a little put back about this particular law that we were trying to get a change in, because it just seemed frankly for lack of a better word, a layup. This seemed like a common sense fix to something that's going to save taxpayers a lot of money throughout the state and make the process so much easier.
. . . . 48 other states in this country do it the way we're proposing to do it. How can they be wrong? I don’t propose that Maryland just jump on the bandwagon, but 48 do it. I heard delegates, and not Chairman Vallario, say we should study it and submit recommendations. Come on, i dont know what there is to study there.
Bealefeld is no doubt correct that he doesn't bear animus for Vallario, but neither does he appear to hold the veteran legislator in high regard. I was outside the hearing room when the commissioner came out and expresed frustration with his treatment. And he had every right to be frustrated. Vallario was discounting everything Bealefeld and every other police chief was saying. One can only hope that in the two weeks since that hearing, Vallario has had an epiphany. It wouldn't be the first time a committee chairman has seen the light about a bill he hated at first. Such conversions generally follow a chat with the presiding officer of the chamber.
