Amendment 6, one of several proposed constitutional amendments on the November 5th ballot, would restore a $3 fee that was used to fund the Missouri Sheriff’s Retirement System.
The fee was charged to people convicted of traffic citations and other crimes. It was struck down by the Missouri Supreme Court in 2021, ruling that collecting the fees was not connected to administering justice. Lauren Bonds of Kansas City is Executive Director of the National Police Accountability Project (NPAP). Her organization is opposed to Amendment 6.
“It ties salaries and benefits for law enforcement to them enforcing the law, so it kind of creates this policing for profit incentive,” Bonds told Missourinet. “Maybe not at the rate of $3 per filing, but it can definitely, it definitely opens the door to that.”
Meaning that the more traffic tickets are written, the more money for retirement pensions according to Bonds.
“There’s statistics that show that enforcement goes up, that there are more arrests, that there are more citations, when there is a connection between citation revenue and that citation revenue going directly to a law enforcement agency,” she said.
Supporters of Amendment 6 disagree, saying retirement benefits are a part of the administration of justice because without them there would be fewer people interested in working in law enforcement. They also argue that without the $3 fee the Sheriff’s Retirement System will go bankrupt in nine years.
To hear from supporters of Amendment 6, listen to Missourinet’s interview with Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak.
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