From todays Toronto Sun (ya ya I know I know)
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/04/30/traffic-officers-upset-with-quotas-in-torontos-31-division
Heads up to those driving in 31 Division because not only is there a new ticket quota imposed on Toronto Police traffic officers but a memo also states their careers may be on the line should they not meet them.
It’s a shocking correspondence that has upset some officers in the northwestern Toronto division.
The problem is quotas are against Toronto Police policy.
While there is “a performance standard to ensure that parking folks” are “engaged in parking enforcement,” Dr. Alok Mukherjee, chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, states clearly “with respect to the issue of traffic ticket quota, I can tell you that there is no quota.”
Const. Tony Vella, of corporate communications, reiterates: “Toronto Police does not have a quota system, period.”
Somebody might want to tell Sgt. Wanda DeCoste.
“Being a TRU officer comes with its perks; however it also means there are expectations,” says the April 25 memo. “As of this date: the enforcement officers are expected to write a book a day. The accident car officers are expected to produce at least 10 tickets/day if they have no collisions.”
A book a day? That’s 25 tickets.
What about a police officer’s independent discretion?
And what does she mean by perks?
Could it mean the return of the “25 and home” bonus game?
As Toronto Sun crime reporter Alan Cairns wrote in 2006, the practice of writing 25 tickets and then being able to end the shift early was banned in 23 Division after now-retired Supt. Neale Tweedy ordered the practice off limits.
“I find it is an affront to the public interest and cannot be condoned as legitimate law enforcement behaviour, where quotas and personal benefit influence the day,” Tweedy wrote, calling it “unacceptable conduct” that was “undermining discipline, undermining unit cohesiveness and contributing to a compromised management and work environment.”
Perhaps they need to dust off that report’s findings at 31?
DeCoste, a veteran officer with a bevy of experience with Toronto and Thornbury Police Services and the OPP, did not return a call.
But Vella said he spoke with unit commander, Acting Supt. Dave McLeod, who explained it is not a quota but a “temporary measure with respect to community complaints in school zones and traffic safety.”
The memo, however, does not indicate anything about it being temporary or for specific violations.
In fact it is very clearly pressuring officers to improve production.
“There are those of you that are consistently producing and there are those who produce one, two or no tickets an entire shift — that is not acceptable and really not fair to those who are carrying the unit.”
So you think it’s easy to be a police officer? The memo sounds like something to motivate door-to-door vacuum cleaner sales people.
But it’s no laughing matter for officers who want intervention, particularly over the line in the memo that states: “I want to make a request for each and every one of you to promote your careers ... But I won’t if we don’t deserve it.”
It’s not very subtle.
One copper told me “there are allegations of officers being impaired while running units, others driving with no insurance and using home made validation stickers or allegations of harbouring a fugitive and our careers are on the line for not illegally filling a ticket book?”
The whole thing appears iniquitous — as is the equally wicked quest for revenue from police officers for government coffers. Police officers are not suppose to be tax collectors who are forced to look for moving violations as they worry about their career limitations.
Even though the statistics are not public, one estimate from a former Toronto Police officer shows some traffic cops can produce — after expenses — more than $216,000 a year which would mean tens of millions raised in fines annually across the city?
Temporary or not, they are being motivated to do their part in 31 Division.
“We were dead last in stats across the city before I got here,” wrote DeCoste. “I don’t know how you feel about that, but that does not sit well with me.”
What doesn’t sit well is Toronto Police officers are not supposed to have ticket quotas.
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/04/30/traffic-officers-upset-with-quotas-in-torontos-31-division
Heads up to those driving in 31 Division because not only is there a new ticket quota imposed on Toronto Police traffic officers but a memo also states their careers may be on the line should they not meet them.
It’s a shocking correspondence that has upset some officers in the northwestern Toronto division.
The problem is quotas are against Toronto Police policy.
While there is “a performance standard to ensure that parking folks” are “engaged in parking enforcement,” Dr. Alok Mukherjee, chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, states clearly “with respect to the issue of traffic ticket quota, I can tell you that there is no quota.”
Const. Tony Vella, of corporate communications, reiterates: “Toronto Police does not have a quota system, period.”
Somebody might want to tell Sgt. Wanda DeCoste.
“Being a TRU officer comes with its perks; however it also means there are expectations,” says the April 25 memo. “As of this date: the enforcement officers are expected to write a book a day. The accident car officers are expected to produce at least 10 tickets/day if they have no collisions.”
A book a day? That’s 25 tickets.
What about a police officer’s independent discretion?
And what does she mean by perks?
Could it mean the return of the “25 and home” bonus game?
As Toronto Sun crime reporter Alan Cairns wrote in 2006, the practice of writing 25 tickets and then being able to end the shift early was banned in 23 Division after now-retired Supt. Neale Tweedy ordered the practice off limits.
“I find it is an affront to the public interest and cannot be condoned as legitimate law enforcement behaviour, where quotas and personal benefit influence the day,” Tweedy wrote, calling it “unacceptable conduct” that was “undermining discipline, undermining unit cohesiveness and contributing to a compromised management and work environment.”
Perhaps they need to dust off that report’s findings at 31?
DeCoste, a veteran officer with a bevy of experience with Toronto and Thornbury Police Services and the OPP, did not return a call.
But Vella said he spoke with unit commander, Acting Supt. Dave McLeod, who explained it is not a quota but a “temporary measure with respect to community complaints in school zones and traffic safety.”
The memo, however, does not indicate anything about it being temporary or for specific violations.
In fact it is very clearly pressuring officers to improve production.
“There are those of you that are consistently producing and there are those who produce one, two or no tickets an entire shift — that is not acceptable and really not fair to those who are carrying the unit.”
So you think it’s easy to be a police officer? The memo sounds like something to motivate door-to-door vacuum cleaner sales people.
But it’s no laughing matter for officers who want intervention, particularly over the line in the memo that states: “I want to make a request for each and every one of you to promote your careers ... But I won’t if we don’t deserve it.”
It’s not very subtle.
One copper told me “there are allegations of officers being impaired while running units, others driving with no insurance and using home made validation stickers or allegations of harbouring a fugitive and our careers are on the line for not illegally filling a ticket book?”
The whole thing appears iniquitous — as is the equally wicked quest for revenue from police officers for government coffers. Police officers are not suppose to be tax collectors who are forced to look for moving violations as they worry about their career limitations.
Even though the statistics are not public, one estimate from a former Toronto Police officer shows some traffic cops can produce — after expenses — more than $216,000 a year which would mean tens of millions raised in fines annually across the city?
Temporary or not, they are being motivated to do their part in 31 Division.
“We were dead last in stats across the city before I got here,” wrote DeCoste. “I don’t know how you feel about that, but that does not sit well with me.”
What doesn’t sit well is Toronto Police officers are not supposed to have ticket quotas.
