“My Bad,” Sheriff Claims He Didn’t Know his System to Reward Deputies for Tickets was Illegal

Ignorantia juris non excusat – ignorance of the law excuses no one

Traverse City, MI — If the average citizen was caught running a racketeering scam to defraud the citizens of a town out of their hard earned money, they would go to jail. They would be arrested and thrown in a cage; even if they claimed they “didn’t know it was illegal.”
However, if you are the sheriff, the head honcho responsible for enforcing the law, you can and will avoid all accountability when you say, “I didn’t know it was illegal.”
Sheriff Tom Bensley of the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Department did exactly that after he was caught rewarding deputies for writing tickets.
A construction zone on U.S. 31 did not allow drivers to make left turns, so many of the were cutting through a nearby parking lot.
Bensley likely saw this opportunity as shooting fish in a bucket. He then sent an email to his department explaining to deputies that if they wrote five tickets in this area, they would receive a day off.
“We thought this was a good method to catch people that were violating the law and to see if that incentive would produce some results,” said Sheriff Bensley.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/whoops-my-bad-sheriff-claims-illegal-reward-officers-writing-tickets/#5Wg5TXxfGe2HIA7u.99