As Jay will tell you Massachusetts is one messed up state. I’ve mentioned before that the state’s Supreme Court ruled that it’s OK to charge people to appeal a ticket and now they’ve ruled that it’s OK to charge somebody who successfully fought a ticket:
Motorists issued a traffic ticket in Massachusetts will have to pay money to the state whether or not they committed the alleged crime. According to a state supreme court ruling handed down yesterday, fees are to be imposed even on those found completely innocent. The high court saw no injustice in collecting $70 from Ralph C. Sullivan after he successfully fought a $100 ticket for failure to stay within a marked lane.
Emphasis mine. In the state of Massachusetts you can be punished for not even committing a crime. How fucking convenient is that for agents of the state? If the local police department is running low on money they can just write a bunch of tickets to everybody and collect money whether or not their victims are able to get the bogus tickets overthrown.
This precedence sets up a huge conflict of interest. What’s to stop police officers from issuing bogus tickets now? No matter what happens they win and get money out of the deal.