yes his offense had already been established and not contradicted...what was originally in question was the inconsistency of the department's manner of restitution...to have given others the opportunity to make amends where baowu2 was denied shows disregard for the judicial system itself.
I guess I just do not see it the same way. I guess what you are arguing is for Article 97 to be removed altogether, as a few CO's have chosen not to enforce it, as was the case with Mr. 420247, and baowu2's "couple of friends . . .[that] were in the same situation" and had their tickets for failing "to present a valid license" removed after faxing their licenses (although I suspect that his friends had been issued "fishing without a license" tickets, not "failing to produce a license"). Since these officers have "shown a disregard for the judicial system itself" by failing to enforce the law which they are charged with enforcing, we should now remove the law to be fair to everyone else (what is the point in having Article 97 ("failing to provide a valid license") in the first place, if all you have to do is produce the license later at your convenience). If the CO had issued you a "fishing without a license" citation, did the paperwork for that citation (in case you do NOT fax it in), and then you DID fax the license, so he then has to shred that paperwork once you faxed it, his time (and wages) for that work done on that citation is now wasted (all because you forgot to bring your license with you). The $105 fine for failing to produce a valid license is to encourage license holders to carry their licenses so CO's are not wasting time (and taxpayers' dollars) doing that wasted paperwork on your citation. In point of fact, the CO should have issued citations for both offenses, but as I said, he showed some discretion by taking baowu2's word for it that he had the license at home. He saved the taxpayers some money by not citing him for fishing without a license, but he was clearly sending him a message that he needs to remember to bring that license so as not to waste the CO's time (and taxpayers' money).
Even still, getting rid of the law because someone gets cut a break is not really an option. Can I say I should not be given a speeding ticket because I know many officers have let people off with just a warning? While I agree that the law needs to be fair to everyone, and "should" be enforced without bias. I would not want to rule out my opportunity to plead with the officer to not ticket me for that barbed hook, as I was clearly interested in following the law (the fly I was presently using was barbless after all). That officer took the hard line and said the law is the law and you broke it so I have to ticket you. While I accepted the fact that I broke the law, I was still hopeful he would use his discretion and not ticket me (unfortunately for me, he chose to enforce the law and ticket me). However, I would not want to rule out the hope he would cut me some slack and let me off. I would definitely not want the fact that if he DID let me off with a warning that time, he must now no longer issue a ticket for using barbed hooks, just because the future offender says "oh, I just forgot this one time, I usually use barbless hooks, and I know a guy that. . ." The CO's job is hard enough. If you break the law, even by "accident", by all means plead for leniency, plead for understanding, but do not blame the CO for enforcing the law.