Blog #4: Ticket Quotas, Fact or Fiction?

“The dead cannot cry out for justice; it is a duty of the living to do so for them”
-Lois McMaster Bujold

Benjamin Franklin once said: “In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Valid point. However, as great a countryman as he was, Benny never lived life through the eyes of an Angelino’s front windshield during rush hour traffic! He has never had a careless driver cut him off without signaling. He has never been tailgated for no apparent reason other than to raise his blood pressure. He has never been stuck behind Driving-Miss-Daisy catching all red lights. And I doubt he’s ever been flipped the bird after honking at a horse drawn carriage who drifted into his lane while on his cell phone. Ugh! Don’t you HATE it when inconsiderate people do whatever the heck they want without repercussion!? It’s a part of life that’s all too certain in the life of an Angelino. If Benny Franklin were alive today he WOULD have said: “In this world nothing is certain but death, taxes and bad drivers.” How many times have you wished the police was around to give that weasel a ticket? That way they’d get what they deserved! That would feel great!!! Wouldn’t it? Like true justice was served! And best of all, you’d get the last laugh **long sigh** Even simply daydreaming about it feels good...but of course, the police are never around when you need them.

For my father, the convenience of police presence seems to always work against him. He is a ticket magnet! Always getting pulled over ‘unjustly’ by a police force that is never around when the TRUE culprits of road-rage are terrorizing innocent drivers like himself. Since I became a po-po in the summer of 2004, he has inquired about the issue of ticket quotas over and over again, as have many of my family and friends. I find it interesting that anything less than a “yes” fails to satisfy their need for an answer to the question of ticket quotas being a part of my job or not.

I can tell you what you want to hear:

Yes. My sergeant tells me: “Son. I expect 15 tickets from you today” As I reply with an obedient “Yes, Sir!” I scurry into my patrol car and look for 15 average Joe citizens to issue citations to. I can tell you what you want to hear by saying how I received an award and a pay bonus for being a stellar ticket-writer amongst my peers. I can tell you what you want to hear by telling you we have betting pools at work for the officer who comes in at the end of the shift with the most tickets. Then what? You’d say, “Aha! I knew it all along!” Well thats simply not the way things in my line of work go. And thats definitely not a work ethic I go by. But it seems like these are the only answers that will appease my inquisitive family and friends.

I can tell you what you DON’T want to hear:

That public safety is one of our main responsibilities. When there is a pattern of citizens (usually children and the elderly) being struck by vehicles at certain intersections, the public has scrutinized police records and noted the lack of citations for speeding at these intersections, then placed blame on the local police department. This scenario happens quite frequently across the nation. And while I believe writing citations simply for the purpose of avoiding public blame is wrong, I do believe issuing citations at these intersections because we sincerely do not want anyone getting struck by a car is completely valid. Enough citizens get seriously hurt or die as a result of these accidents that the police department SHOULD be proactive in analyzing all the problematic intersections in our city. That way we can implement traffic enforcement plans and lessen the potential for these accidents to occur. Is that not something you want the police department to do in your community? I feel it is safe to assume that the answer is Yes. (Except of course the city would give YOU an honorary ticket exemption card, that would be sweet! Good luck! Tell ‘em Chris sent ya!)

In my pre-police life, I noticed that the general public in Da Hood was only exposed to the police in one of two ways. Either Deputy Big Shot and his entourage were pointing big guns and yelling orders at obscure nameless criminals, or the common law abiding citizens themselves were being issued citations for relatively small infractions. Aside from that there were no positive community policing efforts like we see in modern day police work. It was simply not a priority back then. Result? The community feared the common patrol officer instead of that officer being a symbol of public safety. I truly hope I can change that mindset in people through my day to day actions while on duty.

Personally I don’t write very many tickets. I’m not a big fan of ruining a hardworking citizen’s day in this age of financial distress. Occasionally I see blatant violations which make me cringe in fear of potentially witnessing a bad vehicle-vs-pedestrian impact. When I do write those tickets it is with the purpose of public safety in mind, as cheesy at that sounds. There is no malicious intent or lack of compassion in that part of my duty. I know that my family and close friends still continue to walk the streets that I patrol and I will use all the tools in my power to protect them. If your mother or child was hit at an intersection, I’m sure you’d wish that a police officer was there to issue those careless and inconsiderate drivers a ticket with a hefty fine. Maybe...just maybe, a ticket on a prior occasion would have slowed that driver down an extra second, or made that driver not read his text message so he could see the pedestrian in the street before a catastrophic collision.

How many times have you been driving and slowed down at the sight of a police car then quickly looked down at your speedometer? Shoot, even I do it! And I have a get-out-of-jail-free card! (Well, kind of. I’ll touch on THAT issue on a future blog, dont worry.) I understand that for most of you police work is a profession you choose not to do for various reasons. On the other hand I guarantee at times you would LOVE to have the power of ticket writing. Heck, even off-duty I sometimes wish I could write these road-rage terrorists a ticket. Unfortunately, as a police department and as a community we can’t catch them all.


I was going to begin this blog with a morbid narration describing the visceral reality of traffic collisions with an example of a vehicle-vs-pedestrian accident that I was unlucky enough to witness. Instead I’ll allow you to do the math. The average vehicle is 4,000 pounds of hard metal. The average human body is 180 pounds, 61.8% of which is made up of water. There is no competition. Pedestrians must be protected and the police department looks to protect YOU. It’s a hard concept to ascertain. Especially when you’re the recipient of a ticket. “I’m getting fined for my protection?” It seems not to make sense. But in a parental kind of way it actually makes perfect sense.

The simple answer to your question is: No. I have never been given a ticket quota responsibility. There are many issues concerning citations that I will touch on with future blogs. But the issue at hand here is the ‘Ticket Quota’. They are as real in police work as unicorns and mermaids are in our skies and oceans. The occasional ticket you get is annoying, inconvenient and pricey. You curse the officer under your breath and feel like the system cheated you under some codified ticket quota clause stipulated in our department policy. The way I see the big picture of things, receiving that ticket makes you merely collateral damage in the fight to make your stroll around the block with the family a safe one. We can’t make citizens care about common courtesy while driving, but utilizing citations and fines we can make them think twice about driving with some common sense. Instead of focusing on proving the police have a quota for tickets, focus on the main objective of the tickets themselves. Citations educate the general public, make people think twice before making unsafe decisions and best of all prevent accidents which can seriously injure or even kill citizens. If we can all atleast agree on that, then we can start working together on other methods of influencing safe driving for the protection of you, me and our loved ones.

In the meantime I’ll be working on your honorary ticket exemption card...until my next blog, dawg!

PIECE LOVE & WHISKEY

==============================================================

Fallen Officers Since Last Blog: 3 Souls
Total Line-of-Duty Deaths for 2011: 63 Souls

Police Officer J. Christopher Kilcullen

Eugene Police Department, OR

End of Watch: Friday, April 22, 2011

Age: Not available

Tour of Duty: 12 years

Cause of Death: Gunfire
Survived by: wife and two children (11-year & 4-year old)

Deputy Sheriff Clifton Taylor

Johnson County Sheriff's Office, TX
End of Watch: Saturday, April 23, 2011

Age: 31

Tour of Duty: 3 years

Cause of Death: Gunfire

Survived by: fiancee, parents, and siblings.

Police Officer Daryl Hall

St. Louis Police Department, MO

End of Watch: Sunday, April 24, 2011
Age: 34

Tour of Duty: 5 years

Cause of Death: Gunfire

Survived by: mother, stepfather and a brother

++This blog is dedicated to LAPD Officer Jose Diance. 23-years old. Died off-duty in a traffic accident on 4/24/11.
Officer Diance, I will continue protecting and serving in your honor with pride and courage. God rest your soul.++


====================================================================================================================================