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Economically, even if Sandra Bland didn't die and served a few days in jail, this whole situation seems like such an mindless waste of resources. Sure, maybe she should have used her turn signal, but how does it her serve her municipality well at all well by jailing someone like this? The expenses of police and judicial resources on each side must be enormous.

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If the department for the municipality does not use all or nearly of their yearly budget, their budget for the following year is frequently reduced.

Are there not better ways to spend the budget than jailing minor offences ?

Moreover, if the department didn't use all its budget, maybe it's a good thing to reduce it so that funds can be diverted to other, more needy departments ?

I know a veteran of the US Navy who was ordered by his captain to throw quarter million dollar flight computers overboard. Had he not done so his aircraft carrier would not have used up its budget.

My roommates in college were in ROTC and they were always looking for things to fill that gap. I don't think they ever broke anything, but if I remember correctly they managed to get a popcorn machine.

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