Why didn't he get me off?

In my continuing efforts to support the law enforcement community, I would like to respond to the following request for assistance from a law enforcement officer. An anonymous LEO posting on the site "CopsWritingCops.com" relates the following:

While traveling through western North Carolina this past week I was stopped by a State Trooper ([name and badge number withheld]) for speeding. According to hin [sic] 70 in a 55. I know I was speeding but I don't think 70, although it is a possibility. As I always do, I immediately and politely acknowledged the fact that I was driving to [sic] fast, I apologized, and identified myself as a Police Officer. He replied with "your in Law Enforcement?" I answered "yes" and he asked for my license. He went to his patrol car and returned to my vehicle with a traffic citation in hand and said simply "sign here". I signed, he gave me my copy and walked away. Thank you trooper [name withheld] for the $135.00 ticket. Please someone explain this mentality to me. No matter how much I try I just don't understand why a brother officer feels so compelled to write another officer a ticket. I can't see any other explanation other than the fact that he is simply a DICK.

His question, what mentality could lead to an NC state trooper giving a ticket to someone doing 70 in a 55 zone, is an important one. Is it just dickery that drives policemen to hand out traffic tickets? Or do they feel that by doing so they are preventing, or at least mimizing, lawlessness and recklessness on the highways? Or is it that they are essentially tax collectors, who roam the roads deriving revenue from motorists in exchange for the privilege of exceeding speed limits or ignoring traffic signals and signs?

There are numerous explanations for the way traffic enforcement is carried out in this country, but one thing is clear. This officer does not wish to be treated the way that he treats you and me.

Hat tip, Jennifer, of Grylliade.org and the Hartford Advocate,