Leaked Document From Mayor to Police: Your Paycheck Depends on How Many Tickets You Write

Putting officers in the position to either write tickets or lose pay is wrong. Police departments such as this one should unhinge there finances and budgets from monies received from traffic violations. If letters like this are being passed to officers with veiled threats about budgets and finances, somethings definitely amiss.

Source

Edmundson, MO– While police and their supporters continue to insist that police are out there keeping our streets safe, an internal document sent from the Edmundson Mayor John Gwaltney implies otherwise. The letter, which was included with the paychecks of the town’s police officers, spells out in very plain terms their actual role in the community – extorting money for the state.

I think this provides a conflict of interest too departments which utilize traffic fines and base their officers income and budgets upon these fines. In my opinion this is an example of the possibility good cops are forced by higher ups to maintain quotas, which can lead to unlawful stops and arrests that facilitate corruption and distrust.

a reply to: Daedal

And every minute that they are harassing and extorting non-violent citizens, they are not doing their actual job.

I'm glad that there seems to be widespread recognition of the folly of armed tax collectors.

Notice at the end of the letter. "evaluation of your work habits AND MOTIVATION" [emphasis mine ]
Here's the motivation. $$$$$
I'd like to see a comparison in number of tickets wriitten in the 6 months before and after this letter was sent.

Well, duh. We all know they do this. It says they have no quota, but they want "good tickets" written. If department heads didn't have performance expectations, then the worker bee cops would find a nice quiet parking spot and sleep or play on their smart phone during their shift. It makes sense to me.

The laws are meaningless to those who enforce them or to those in a position of money and power. They just don't seem to care about flaunting their lawlessness in the public's faces anymore.

Where in that letter does it say to give tickets to innocent people? Could the intention of the letter be to not give out as many warning tickets?
The letter does say we have no quotas and want good tickets meaning not trumped up violations.

originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck
The laws are meaningless to those who enforce them or to those in a position of money and power. They just don't seem to care about flaunting their lawlessness in the public's faces anymore.

They are truly brazen.

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
Where in that letter does it say to give tickets to innocent people? Could the intention of the letter be to not give out as many warning tickets?
The letter does say we have no quotas and want good tickets meaning not trumped up violations.

I don't know, this is an official communication and includes "good tickets" in parentheses.

That is the universal indication of euphemism and there aren't really any good tickets anyway. Criminals don't get tickets, they get arrested.

"Fair to yourself and the city" at budget time seems like another veiled threat. Also, by "the city" they don't mean the citizens of the city but rather the administrators and employees of it.

I have no problem reading into this.

a reply to: [post=19240002]greencmp[/post

I would be inclined to take good tickets as tickets that will hold up in traffic court.
and the rest of the letter say do your job..

a reply to: Daedal

I don't think they need to harass law abiding people to write tickets, many cops are just being lazy and not ticketing. What I mean by that is, spend 3 minutes on the road and you will see at least 453 digbats committing a traffic violation. They do not need to look hard or target someone innocent when there are violators everywhere in site.

ID

a reply to: Daedal

I have been highlighting this issue year after year after year-this shouldn't be a shock revelation.

Cops will lay in wait for the morning and afternoon commuters and they will increase their patrols over holiday periods-they know that they need to meet infringement quotas and there is no better time to book someone then the peak hours. They claim that it's an 'incentive' to curb road accidents and fatalities but the truth is that these measures do next to nothing as there are still road accidents and fatalities each and every year.

This article could confirm many peoples long standing suspicions.

originally posted by: Thecakeisalie
Cops will lay in wait for the morning and afternoon commuters and they will increase their patrols over holiday periods-they know that they need to meet infringement quotas and there is no better time to book someone then the peak hours.

A friend of mine is a cop and told me that in the morning they will be patrolling the lanes that come into his township and in the afternoon they will patrol the ones leaving the township. The reason for this is that the majority of the people stopped don't live in that township so it keeps the complaints of voters down.

a reply to: Daedal

Hey, didn't a bunch of teachers just go to prison because higher-ups told them their jobs depended upon them achieving higher standardized test scores for their students? Doesn't seem much different.

a reply to: jtma508

No. They went to prison for racketeering, that's a felony.
Most of the teachers took a plea agreement and got probation. 11 of them thought they would try their luck in court and lost. The judge even warned them about the risk.
The cops are being told to enforce the law, not break the law.

I knew that since forever.

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
Where in that letter does it say to give tickets to innocent people? Could the intention of the letter be to not give out as many warning tickets?
The letter does say we have no quotas and want good tickets meaning not trumped up violations.

And then goes on to say you are not writing enough tickets, and the number of tickets is tied to your pay raise.

Rather than say "good work, tickets are down so you are doing your job and people are driving safer" they say "we have determined you are not writing enough tickets and it will affect your pay raise".

originally posted by: greencmp

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
Where in that letter does it say to give tickets to innocent people? Could the intention of the letter be to not give out as many warning tickets?
The letter does say we have no quotas and want good tickets meaning not trumped up violations.

I don't know, this is an official communication and includes "good tickets" in parentheses.

That is the universal indication of euphemism and there aren't really any good tickets anyway. Criminals don't get tickets, they get arrested.

"Fair to yourself and the city" at budget time seems like another veiled threat. Also, by "the city" they don't mean the citizens of the city but rather the administrators and employees of it.

I have no problem reading into this.

It's not a euphemism it's quoting a phrase that's used commonly in law enforcement. "Good tickets" means pop somebody for a DUI instead of a garbage ticket like parked too far from the curb.

A lot of stupid tickets get written and are a waste of time. "Good tickets" don't.

originally posted by: Shamrock6

originally posted by: greencmp

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
Where in that letter does it say to give tickets to innocent people? Could the intention of the letter be to not give out as many warning tickets?
The letter does say we have no quotas and want good tickets meaning not trumped up violations.

I don't know, this is an official communication and includes "good tickets" in parentheses.

That is the universal indication of euphemism and there aren't really any good tickets anyway. Criminals don't get tickets, they get arrested.

"Fair to yourself and the city" at budget time seems like another veiled threat. Also, by "the city" they don't mean the citizens of the city but rather the administrators and employees of it.

I have no problem reading into this.

It's not a euphemism it's quoting a phrase that's used commonly in law enforcement. "Good tickets" means pop somebody for a DUI instead of a garbage ticket like parked too far from the curb.

A lot of stupid tickets get written and are a waste of time. "Good tickets" don't.

You don't get a ticket for a DUI, that is my point, you get arrested.

Tickets are arbitrary tax invoices, not criminal convictions.

a reply to: greencmp

And you completely missed the point of the analogy. Insert "reckless by speed" if it suits you better.

Or you ignored the point entirely.

Either way, the explanation stands and there is nothing nefarious behind the term "good tickets."

But don't let that stop you

a reply to: Daedal

So, write every ticket with the Mayors name on it