you down with opp?

Well, I hope you aren't down with OPP in the Naughty by Nature way. OPP, in this instance at least, stands for Overland Park Police. And let me tell you, a few weeks ago, I definitely was not down with OPP when one of them pulled me over for speeding.

I went to the courthouse on Tuesday to get my ticket reduced to a nonmoving violation. OP requires you to see a prosecutor and then a judge, which seems like a waste of resources to me. I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't even make me pay double my fine (almost, but not quite). Apparently, OP isn't down with big OPProfit.

Other cities just have you mail in double the fine. The ticket in the first place was mostly about making the city a bit of money, so the doubling of that is just icing to the city coffers. But OP doesn't have me pay double and lessens its profits by adding in need for courtroom, prosecutor and judge time.

A side thought from when I was waiting for my 3.5 seconds in front of the judge: The majority of the duties of the cop who pulled me over, the prosecutor who reduced my ticket and the judge who approved it are centered around making money for the city via these "violations." I wondered if they felt inferior to other cops, prosecutors and judges who they see dealing with real crime and delinquency. I wondered if they felt they were being used in the same way I feel my (and many of my fellow editors feel their) editorial talents are being used simply for the advertisers' gain. (Forgive my negativity on my profession; I just finished writing up more than 100 product descriptions.)