Cities should stop plundering the public on code-violation prosecutions

When government contracts with the private sector to save money and deliver quality services, it’s a win-win. But when the aim is to merely extract money from the public, things can go very wrong.
Late last year, the Desert Sun revealed an abusive practice in Indio and Coachella in which a city-contracted law firm, Silver & Wright, prosecuted city residents for minor crimes and then billed them for the costs of the prosecution.
The practice distorts the enforcement of local ordinances