Re: "Quadrupled Pennsylvania traffic fees unfair, go too far," April 15 editorial.

In recent years, the traffic law enforcement practices of state and local police departments have more closely resembled a de-facto revenue-generating division of the government and insurance industry than civil servants whose purpose is "to protect and serve."

The reasoning behind the stiff fines for traffic citations, we are told, is to discourage speeding. However, everything I have observed demonstrates a more financial motivation behind the enforcement of traffic law. Officers are often positioned behind overpasses and heavy brush, or hidden in parking lots, ready to waylay unsuspecting motorists and serve them with expensive citations. If the police truly wanted to discourage speeding on our roads and highways, they would make every effort to make their presence as visible as possible.

Police departments should stop using taxpayers' money as a means to extract even more revenue from them for the state coffers. Or at the very least, adopt a more accurate motto: "to ambush and serve."