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Fort Wayne police have written significantly fewer traffic tickets this year, generating less revenue for the city and grabbing the attention of elected officials.
Police Chief Rusty York has noticed the decrease and said he addressed it with the force. Allen County prosecutors, City Council members and police-union officials have also noticed.
One contributing factor, according to union officials, is low officer morale.
Officers have made about a third fewer traffic stops this year compared with this time in 2008, according to a Journal Gazette analysis of police department statistics. And officers have issued about a third fewer tickets to motorists.
York said the decrease in traffic stops was a little more than he expected. He contends the number of stops ebbs and flows every few years and is no cause for alarm.
“The majority of our officers are eager to go out there and do their job,” he said.
But the chief is not the only one who has noticed the decline.
“This summer I certainly have not seen as many officers setting up speed traps,” said City Councilwoman Liz Brown, R-at large. “I guess you can say the citizens of Fort Wayne finally got it and don’t speed – or else something else is going on.”
Tyree Carr, Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association vice president, said he would not be surprised if some officers have made a conscious choice not to conduct traffic stops.
“We (the PBA) do not tell our officers to go out and disregard traffic; that’s a personal choice,” he said. “Certain individuals may have an agenda.”
York recognizes this “agenda,” but he believes union officials have encouraged officers to stop writing tickets.
“This was a strategy to show the displeasure in the take-home car policy,” he said. “I think it’s not very well thought-out.”
The take-home car policy, which requires officers to pay $25 to $30 every two weeks for the personal use of their cruisers, was first announced in September. Previously, officers did not have to pay for personal use. York turned to the policy to help offset rising fuel costs.
Police union officials filed a grievance in October, attacking the way York negotiated with officers over the personal use of their cruisers. That grievance is still pending.
In the meantime, the policy went into effect in January, but a third of the police force opted out – promising to use their cars only when on duty.
Carr denies the chief’s claim that the union has encouraged officers to write fewer tickets.
“I believe morale is down; … the officers feel that they are not being cared for,” he said. “The chief has not had our back.”
Carr says a combination of factors – in addition to the take-home car policy – has put a dent in morale, including two federal lawsuits filed by officers against the city over administrative issues and officers working since December without a renewed contract or raises.
Neil Moore, executive director of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and former Fort Wayne police chief, said officer tactics – such as low ticketing – are nothing new.
When Moore graduated from the police academy in 1977, officers were beginning to unionize. Those with distaste for the idea suddenly came down with the blue flu and would call off work, he said.
“When police officers are in some level of dissatisfaction with the administrators that are running an organization they may look at a variety of tactics,” Moore said. “Ticket slowdowns are a well-known tactic.”
Another tactic is ticket speed-ups in which officers excessively issue tickets in an attempt to get the public’s attention, so pressure will be put on elected officials to make changes, Moore said.
“The average citizen would not know that this is occurring,” he said.
Even when these tactics are deployed, officers tend to continue working. But they look at their duties differently, according to Rich Roberts, a retired law enforcement officer of 30 years, and current spokesman for the International Union of Police Associations.
The international labor union represents more than 100,000 officers across the nation, accounting for a quarter of all officers eligible for union membership.
“The severity of the offense is going to determine whether or not an officer is going to actively pursue ticketing a driver,” Roberts said. “They are going to be more inclined to overlook minor offenses.”
City Councilman Tom Didier, R-3rd, said he wouldn’t be surprised if some officers were issuing fewer tickets because of the take-home car policy, but other factors could be in play.
Tough economic times have prompted change, Didier said.
“People aren’t driving as much, that I can attest to” he said. “If they are not taking their vehicles and driving somewhere, they (officers) are not going to give tickets.”
Additionally, the PBA’s Carr points out that an officer can choose to give a verbal warning. He refers to the police department’s own rules and regulations handbook, which tells officers to use discretion in their work.
“A police officer will use responsibly the discretion vested in the position and exercise it within the law,” the rulebook states. “It is important to remember a timely word of advice, rather than arrest, which may be correct in appropriate circumstances, can be a more effective means of achieving a desired end.”
When writing speeding tickets, officers have the option of writing it as a violation of state law or a violation of the city speeding ordinance. Ticketing under the city ordinance allows some people to take part in the speeding deferral program, and it affects where money goes when fines are paid.
This year, the number of people cited under the city ordinance who have signed up for the deferral program has plummeted, according to figures kept by the city clerk’s office.
Through July, 62 people have entered the speeding deferral program. Those tickets have generated just more than $9,300.
A year ago at this time, 764 people had entered the program, generating more than $100,000, according to the clerk’s office.
People eligible for the program are notified when they pay their tickets at Traffic and Misdemeanor Court, said Diane Martin, violations bureau specialist for the city clerk’s office.
With the deferral program, the amount of the ticket goes back to the city, as opposed to the state, Martin said.
In return for taking part in the deferral program, motorists do not have point violations placed on their driving record.
York called the decrease in tickets a “flawed strategy” by officers. They are only hurting themselves, he said.
As the number of people using the city’s deferral program has declined, so has the amount of revenue coming back to the city and the police department.
Much of that money is used for the police department’s training budget, York said, including expenses for travel and training.
Although it’s too early to say what effect this will have on the city’s budget, it does have City Council members raising their eyebrows.
“The revenue is an issue,” said City Councilwoman Karen Goldner, D-2nd. “We certainly aren’t in a position to forgo the revenue, … (but) we’re not going out and telling the police to write more tickets to get more money.”
Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards said she has noticed fewer citations coming through traffic court, but she declined to speculate on what might be behind the drop.
“We definitely are not trying as many (traffic violation cases),” she said. “Everybody has noticed it.”
Fewer cases also mean less revenue for the court – including for training, victim services and salaries.
But drunken-driving arrests, along with the more serious charges, have not declined, Richards said.
Despite the lower numbers, York maintains no significant issues are being overlooked when it comes to traffic enforcement.
“It’s time to get back to normal,” he said. “Those officers that we’ve noticed who’ve had a falling off (in ticket writing); ... it will be recognized in their evaluations.”
Those evaluations are done every six months, and York said he is seeing a slight upswing in the ticket numbers since the six-month mark in June.
But he maintains he will not resort to a quota system, which would require officers to write a designated number of tickets each month.
Officer morale has a direct influence on conduct, according to Roberts, of the International Union of Police Associations.
“Anytime morale on a department suffers, performance suffers,” he said. “When morale suffers, you usually look to command to see why.”
Police administrators hold the key to keeping the police force positive, according to Jim White, a public safety lecturer at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and retired police officer of more than 20 years.
“It’s incumbent on the department to create an atmosphere that is conducive to officers doing their job,” he said.
Meanwhile, the union officials maintain officers are doing just that.
“We’re still protecting, we’re still serving,” Carr said.
