DMN has two stories that highlight the opportunity cost of stupid laws.
Story 1- East Dallas is being hit with a rash of home robberies. If you live in East Dallas and someone breaks in the door, it’s either a robber, or the SWAT team looking for poker games.
Story 2- The Dallas City Council passed a new city ordinance that prohibits using a cell phone in a school zone. By all accounts this law is a solution without a problem. The Dallas City Council continues their proud tradition of incompetence.
Statistic- Last year Dallas had over 15,000 home robberies. Dallas also had no deaths caused by a cell phone, in a school zone.
Opportunity Costs are real.This new cell phone ban will be good at two things- raising ticket revenue (taxes) and wasting officer time. However, it will do nothing to stop the city’s real crime problem- home burglaries.
Every stupid law, every speed trap, every pot arrest or poker bust wastes criminal justice resources. An officer writing a ticket for using a cell phone can not prevent or investigate a home burglary.
These two stories are two sides of the same coin. Our stupid laws- from Prohibition to Poker- prevent the police from keeping you safe. This new cell phone law is not only stupid, but dangerous.