Money talks and bullshit drinks
Another one for this "occasional series", I think. Questions raised include:
Q1. Is South Dakota a place very similar to London, particularly when the context is drink driving?
Q2. How does this idea, which is rather intensive in the use of the time of probation officers and courts, interact with other decisions recently taken about funding?
Q3. Has a pilot scheme been costed?
Q4. What will the cost per test be, given that we are told that offenders would "pay for the tests themselves", and does this really mean that "it would not cost taxpayers a penny" (ie, are offenders to pay the fully loaded costs of the entire scheme, including enforcement, administration, etc)?
Q5. Would it not have been a better idea to save the press release for when the scheme was actually launched, rather than when the decision was taken to ask the government for permission to carry out a pilot?
A1, A2, A3, A4, A5: Money talks and bullshit walks.
The question is, if you were in prison in South Dakota, how could you tell?
ReplyDelete"Best state in America to do business," according to the Tax Foundation, whose staffers in DC probably laughed themselves silly when they hit "publish".
ReplyDeletePerhaps Boris might think of Bill Janklow, the former four-term governor and congressman for SC, who pardoned his drunk-driving son and served 100 days in jail for killing a motorcyclist while speeding in 2003.
given that we are told that offenders would "pay for the tests themselves"
Ah, the wonderful racket of drug-testing in America. Ka-ching, ka-ching. (The fuckers also do immigration medicals.)
I live in South Dakota and have never heard of this. Certainly the state and the police do not mention this at all. The first two driving under the influence are misdemeanors, the third a class 6 felony and 4th and more are class 5 felonies.
ReplyDeleteYou can however, be charged with driving under the influence while riding a horse.