Peirspictiochtai Ar An Saol
Zero-Based Law Enforcement
Part Fifteen
One of the situations in today's law enforcement involves the practice of arresting and/or giving tickets to individuals for several separate criminal acts for what may, in many cases, be one main criminal act.
For example, an individual runs a red light. In this example, there's no question of what the individual did: There is photographic footage of the person going through the intersection when the traffic signal is red for that driver's lane of traffic. There is a law enforcement officer at the intersection who witnesses the individual driving through that intersection when the driver did not have the right-of-way to do so.
The law enforcement officer pulls the vehicle over and issues several traffic tickets to the driver: Running a red light. Driving too fast for conditions. Inattentive driving.
Each of these tickets typically has its own set of penalties. Usually, financial fines.
In this specific example, the driver could plead "guilty" to running a red light, and, in exchange, have the two other tickets dismissed.
Or, in this specific example, the driver could plead "guilty" to more than one or all of the tickets to avoid going to court.
The goal, for many law enforcement entities today, is to encourage an individual to plead "guilty" to at least one of the tickets or one of the alleged criminal acts. That way, the law enforcement entity can be seen as enforcing the laws and not having to have its law enforcement officer go to court to prove that the alleged criminal acts took place.
In Zero-Based Law Enforcement, the law enforcement officer, in this specific example, would issue a ticket for running a red light. Period. It would be understood that the person was driving too fast for conditions and was inattentive to the traffic signals.
The ticket would either stand on its own merit or not.
The ticket would have a penalty attached that is appropriate for that specific criminal act.
(Please note: Many people would consider a traffic violation to be a "traffic violation" and not a "criminal act." For the purposes of this news column, a violation of a traffic law is a "criminal act.")
The concept of Zero-Based Law Enforcement is to have law enforcement officers only issue tickets and arrest people for the specific criminal acts that truly took place.
Not to pad a traffic stop with multiple tickets. Not to arrest a person on multiple charges for the same criminal activity. Not to generate funds for the operations of a law enforcement entity or its governing body.
This does not mean that multiple tickets or multiple arrest charges are, by themselves, to be avoided.
It does mean that the tickets issued and the arrest charges made are truly for separate, distinct criminal acts.
Using the earlier example, if the law enforcement officer who pulls over the driver who ran the red light determines additional criminal acts have taken place or are in process of happening, additional tickets or an arrest on one or more charges may be very appropriate in Zero-Based Law Enforcement.
A few situations from the earlier example: The law enforcement officer can smell alcohol emitting from the driver. The law enforcement officer can visually see – from the outside of the vehicle – an open container of an alcoholic beverage. The law enforcement officer can smell marijuana emitting from the driver. The law enforcement officer asks for a driver's license from the driver and no driver's license is produced by the driver. The law enforcement officer asks for proof of insurance from the driver and no proof of insurance is produced by the driver. The law enforcement officer asks for a driver's license and one is produced by the driver; the law enforcement officer then checks the information on the driver's license in a database of individuals wanted for other criminal acts and finds that the driver is wanted for another criminal act.
In each of these situations, additional tickets and/or an arrest may be appropriate.
But if no such additional situations exist and the reason the individual was pulled over by the law enforcement officer was because the driver ran a red light, the law enforcement officer should issue a ticket to the person for running a red light.
Period.
The next news column in this series on Zero-Based Law Enforcement will focus on how law enforcement officers could choose to use discretion when dealing with the public rather than focusing on issuing tickets and arresting people.
Peirspictiochtai Ar A Saol – Gaelic – Irish – for "Perspectives On Life" is a column focused on aspects of accountability and responsibility as well as ways people look at life.
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© 2026 Richard McDonough
