traffic court

i spent the day in traffic court. no, it wasnt because i had received a ticket. i was there as part of my internship at the court house. the most important lesson i learned today - dont go to traffic court!

from 9 till 11:30 the room was packed with people. people would see the judge, leave, then more would come in and fill their places. it was truly amazing. and, these people ran a tight trip.

there was absolutely no talking, whispering, phone activity, book reading, dozing, or having fun in this place. kent and eugene were scolded for talking when eugene asked kent in a whisper (and he as a quiet voice - he's asian for crying out loud) if we should introduce ourselves to the bailiff. kent replied that he thought they already knew who we were. sure enough, the bailiff came over and told them that he knew they were externs but thye still dont allow talking in the court room.

they also made the people take their hands out of their pockets, take their hands off the table, stand behind the table directly in front of the judge (and if the moved a few shuffle steps to the side to hand the bailiff anything, they were scolded).

i can imagine some of those people were also humiliated since they had to stand in front of everyone and admit their guilt to narcotic or alcohol use.

i told kent that this would be the first time i would get a ticket (because i had been so terrified about traffic court). well, i didnt get a ticket (yet!) but on the way home we saw three police cars on the 22 (i have yet to see one on our daily commute).

overall, it was a very informative session for us. a nice break from white collar crime in dept 12.