Positive Law Enforcement

I heard on the news this morning that a police department in my area will be giving out gift cards to folks they see doing good deeds, such as picking up trash in parks.

I think this is a fine idea. I've long thought that our friends in law enforcement should give people an incentive to be good. I learned in high school psychology that studies have shown that positive reinforcement (rewarding for good behavior) works better than negative reinforcement (punishing for bad behavior). I wouldn't mind them taking it a step further, and I can't think of a better place to try this than our roadways.

We all see stupid drivers, probably every day we take to the roads. The ones who think they own the road, who drive 30 miles above the speed limit, run every red light, pass on the berm. Then there are the drivers who don't mind sharing the road but don't plan to make it any easier for other people. You know who I mean -- the ones who don't use their turn signals; the ones who insist on squeezing through after a yellow light turns red, the ones who talk on their cell phones and eat while navigating a busy parking lot.

With all of those bad drivers, it's not surprising that the law-abiding drivers often go unnoticed. But I propose to change that. I believe the good people of our police departments should take action to recognize safe drivers -- not just by not ticketing them for offenses but by rewarding good driving behavior. The only driver on the road using a turn signal, the person who stops at a yellow light if there isn't enough time to squeeze through, the one who actually observes the construction zone speed limit, even when there are no workers waving the "slow" signs. The cops could pull those people over and issue them reward checks for doing well (I propose the amount of the check be the same as the penalty for breaking the law, but in some cases, that's pretty steep, and really, I'd be happy with any small reward).

I have my doubts that this idea will ever take off, but on the off-chance that any police chiefs or community leaders are Stapling Jello readers, I thought I'd throw it out there.