davis_square | Moved before sweep (Reply)

Many years ago, I went outside to move a housemate's car to discover a cop putting a street sweeping ticket on it. He was a nice guy, but once he had printed the ticket couldn't rescind it. However, he wrote "Moved before sweep" on the ticket and initialed it, and we were able to get it waived.

Last night, at about quarter after midnight a friend and I came to his car and discovered pretty much the exact same situation. Cop has printed out the ticket. We talked to him, asked him to put a note on it saying moved before sweep. He wasn't as friendly, and seemed convinced that putting a note on it wouldn't work, but I asked nicely and he eventually said he would do it. My friend drove home with his ticket.

It seems silly that once a policeman has printed a ticket, he cannot change his mind even if more information comes to light. What would it take to give them a little more discretion here? I'm talking about the ability to cancel their own tickets within some fixed amount of time, such as an hour. At minimum, it would help with relations between the police and the community.
If it's just a computer thing, computers can be reprogrammed.

But somebody has to decide that it's a good idea - who's the right person to convince?

...or do the police prefer to have a point at which they can say "It's out of my hands, please stop arguing with me?"

Edit June 24:
This discussion has shed some interesting light on the topic. Thank you for taking the time to participate.