Whistleblower admits: Chesterfield PD has a 'Quota System' -- new laws proposed

Repeater · Jul 17, 2014

I would have thought Chesterfield County was a (relatively) safe place to go about in public, with little need to fear the police.

Evidently not:

Former police officer exposes Chesterfield’s ticket quota goals

Two Virginia delegates who represent voters in Chesterfield County said they would consider banning ticket quotas at law enforcement agencies after CBS 6 uncovered traffic stop and arrest mandates at the Chesterfield County Police Department.

A former officer with the Chesterfield Police Department came to CBS 6 investigative reporter Melissa Hipolit with concerns about the way he said the department measured officer performance. His recent review contained traffic stop and arrest mandates.

It showed the following work goals:

Two-three traffic stops per day

One arrest per day

“Failure to meet the expectation during this work performance plan will result in further disciplinary action,” the review read.

The former officer said he resigned after he was denied a one percent raise for not making enough traffic stops and arrests.

Shocking!

“This is…this is shocking…it really is,” Del. Riley Ingram (R – Chesterfield) said.

“This is a little disconcerting,” Del. Delores McQuinn (D – Chesterfield) said. She said she had never seen something like that in writing before.

When questioned about the document, leaders at the Chesterfield Police Department sought to clarify its intent.

“If you think Chesterfield County Police officers are evil and out to target our citizens, that’s just completely false,” Lieutenant Colonel Kelly said.

That is not very reassuring. See the comment at Karin Riley Porter Attorney at Law.

skidmark · Jul 17, 2014

“If you think Chesterfield County Police officers are evil and out to target our citizens, that’s just completely false,” Lieutenant Colonel Kelly said.

So, is it that they are not evil, just out to target the citizens?

Seems to me that the other way requires both characteristics.

Now, if they wanted to meet some arbitrary quota, they ought to consider enforcing 46.2-877

§ 46.2-877. Minimum speed limits.

No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+46.2-877

There is a certain demographic (not by race but by lack of intelligent behavior) that seems to think that driving in the left lane at at least 10MPH below the posted speed limit is a guaranteed way to avoid a speeding ticket - which, sadly, seems to be true.

stay safe.

davidmcbeth · Jul 17, 2014

A FORMER cop?

Where was his ethics when he WAS a cop?

Wolf_shadow · Jul 17, 2014

davidmcbeth said:
A FORMER cop?

Where was his ethics when he WAS a cop?

Read the article. He resigned over the requirements.

sent using tapatalk

JoeSparky · Jul 17, 2014

Wolf_shadow said:
Read the article. He resigned over the requirements.

sent using tapatalk

Well, to be more accurate he resigned after not getting a 1% raise for failing to meet said requirements.

Repeater · Jul 17, 2014

Chesterfield bureaucrat complains: "A gross misrepresentation of the facts."

Well, someone's offended:

Chesterfield official rebuts police quota reports

The Chesterfield County administrator dismissed recent reports that police are using a quota system for traffic stops and arrests as “a gross misrepresentation of the facts.”

County Administrator James J.L. “Jay” Stegmaier said those benchmarks are among many ways supervisors measure the work their officers are performing. But they’re not a hard-and-fast quota that every traffic officer must meet every day, he said.

WTVR News Director Sheryl Barnhouse said, “We fully stand by our report.”

State Sen. John Watkins, a Republican whose district includes Chesterfield, said he’s not sure state action will be necessary but said he’s planning to find out more about what’s really going on in the county.

“I have not seen the directives that have come from the police department to individual officers on the street, so I’m not sure what they told them the expectations were,” Watkins said. “I find it a little hard to believe that they quotaed the numbers of traffic stops. That seems a little inordinate, but maybe they did. … That would bother me.”

That would bother a lot of us, I would think.

Golly, I wonder how many citizens who carry are stopped ... and how are they treated?

JoeSparky · Jul 17, 2014

I have absolutely zero problem with the "righteous" or lawful enforcement of law. I do have a problem with the apparent inability of ANY Law Enforcement Agency to assess the effectiveness of its employees without a requirement to make a certain number of traffic stops / arrests in a certain time frame!

And as to the "palm print" on the rear pillar of a stopped car---- it works great to potentially ID a specific car that drove off from a stop--- Well it probably worked better when we had "peace officers", a bit less now with the Law Enforcement Officer who is wearing those shooting gloves with the weights in them so the "little slap" is more effective in KNOCKING OUT the receiver of the little cuffing!

But, I digress----

Returning you now back to the original channel where certain agencies are now claiming to use # of stops/citations/arrests as an officer performance standard after the courts have told them that "quotas" are UNLAWFUL!

Grapeshot · Jul 17, 2014

You want a 1% raise? Then meet the performance evaluation of an averaged 3 + 1 per day.

Don't meet that performance standard and no raise + other consequences possible.

That equals a quota, no matter how you spin it, slice it, or dice it.

How would we be reacting if gun carriers were being stopped under such standards? Screaming our heads off I suspect.

Well ladies and gentlemen, this is really no different. We need to have a certain level of understanding between ourselves and LEA. It is this expectation that Chesterfield PD has insulted. Don't put me in the position of being caught up in your numbers game and think it can be [strike]swept under the rug[/strike] explained away.

Chief Thierry G. Dupuis has missed a golden opportunity by not stopping this immediately - the buck does stop with you Chief.

davidmcbeth · Jul 18, 2014

Quotas are nothing new (though undeniably wrong) .. I can recall a NYPD cop (Queens if I recall correctly~about 15 yrs ago) where he tape recorded morning meetings about various subject matters like: quotas, re-classifying crimes to make the crimes stats better etc.

If they guy really felt like he was getting screwed for $$$ then he should have sued or used his union's chain of command procedure. Quitting and then filing a wrongful termination in such a situation would not be successful...you generally have to get fired for speaking up about violating public policies.

If I got a speeding ticket every time I sped, I would be an extremely busy boy. I think we all would. Supercops giving out speeding tickets aren't so super in my opinion. I have never lost a speeding ticket contested case yet. And I have contested almost all of them. I never actually violated any true speed limit (3 * 10^8 m/s).

va_tazdad · Jul 18, 2014

Grapeshot said:
You want a 1% raise? Then meet the performance evaluation of an averaged 3 + 1 per day.

Don't meet that performance standard and no raise + other consequences possible.

That equals a quota, no matter how you spin it, slice it, or dice it.

How would we be reacting if gun carriers were being stopped under such standards? Screaming our heads off I suspect.

Well ladies and gentlemen, this is really no different. We need to have a certain level of understanding between ourselves and LEA. It is this expectation that Chesterfield PD has insulted. Don't put me in the position of being caught up in your numbers game and think it can be [strike]swept under the rug[/strike] explained away.

Chief Thierry G. Dupuis has missed a golden opportunity by not stopping this immediately - the buck does stop with you Chief.

Do you truly expect Chief Thierry G. Dupuis to admit the truth?

Cops lie all the time. It is one of their "tools of the trade" when trying to get you to admit something. Funny, but they can lie, but if you lie to a Fed, it is a crime.

Don't hold your breath waiting for the truth from a cop. It will never happen.

This is NOT cop bashing, it is simply the truth and the courts allow it.

Grapeshot · Jul 18, 2014

va_tazdad said:
Do you truly expect Chief Thierry G. Dupuis to admit the truth?

--snipped--.

When Joseph E. Pittman Jr was Chief, he did exactly that - put an immediate stop to quotas. Somehow they were still able to evaluate officer performance - imagine that.

davidmcbeth · Jul 18, 2014

Grapeshot said:
When Joseph E. Pittman Jr was Chief, he did exactly that - put an immediate stop to quotas. Somehow they were still able to evaluate officer performance - imagine that.

Whaaaaat? lol Some people are ethical, most are not...

peter nap · Jul 18, 2014

Grapeshot said:
When Joseph E. Pittman Jr was Chief, he did exactly that - put an immediate stop to quotas. Somehow they were still able to evaluate officer performance - imagine that.

I think it was you that said the Chief missed a golden opportunity to fix it.....Even though everyone has known all along most Departments have either a written or unwritten quota policy, putting it in black in white only enrages people more.

I doubt we'll see see legislation or at least enforceable legislation, because the Police Unions will cry wolf.....but the stench will remain.

ProShooter · Jul 18, 2014

If ticket quotas were the worst thing going on in Chesterfield law enforcement circles, life would be considered to be pretty good.

peter nap · Jul 18, 2014

ProShooter said:
If ticket quotas were the worst thing going on in Chesterfield law enforcement circles, life would be considered to be pretty good.

Amen Jim !
and for the bash all cops folks, this officer is not the only one to resign due to issues with the policies in Chesterfield.

I know of at least one other top notch officer that tried to bring the department up to standards and was assigned to an empty room with no duties other than look at the bare walls for his entire shift, for his efforts.

I've said before that the Chesterfield PD and the Sheriff's Department needs a good house cleaning.

Grapeshot · Jul 18, 2014

peter nap said:
Amen Jim !
and for the bash all cops folks, this officer is not the only one to resign due to issues with the policies in Chesterfield.

I know of at least one other top notch officer that tried to bring the department up to standards and was assigned to an empty room with no duties other than look at the bare walls for his entire shift, for his efforts.

I've said before that the Chesterfield PD and the Sheriff's Department needs a good house cleaning.

Very interested in shining a bright light in such places. If he/she is not in the midst of legal action against ChPD, maybe they can be induced to go public - that would likely be one too many bales of hay on the camel's back.

Repeater · Jul 18, 2014

ProShooter said:
If ticket quotas were the worst thing going on in Chesterfield law enforcement circles, life would be considered to be pretty good.

Includes an 'Arrest Quota' too -- at least ONE per day.

That is not pretty good.

Repeater · Jul 18, 2014

Grapeshot said:
Very interested in shining a bright light in such places. If he/she is not in the midst of legal action against ChPD, maybe they can be induced to go public - that would likely be one too many bales of hay on the camel's back.

Perhaps a new state law should require that all PD policies be posted for public review on local government web sites.

Repeater · Jul 18, 2014

Nightmare said:
Post links to them here on OCDO.

Here is Milwaukee PD Code of Conduct and SOP's
http://city.milwaukee.gov/Directory/police/About-MPD/Code-of-Conduct.htm

Very nice catch! A role model for Virginia, perhaps?

IanB · Jul 18, 2014

I think we all can agree this is bad. Let me pose an example:

Police officer has encountered several speed violators and satisfied his/her quota for the day pertaining to writing tickets. But, all of the cars stopped have been mostly good citizens, with clean records and NO warrants. The last car stop of the day is one of us, and we have a gun secured in the center console. Well, let's just haul this guy DOWNTOWN on a concealed weapons charge!! In the end, what the gunnie was doing was legal, but the police officer needed to make quota, and easily could claim ignorance of the law for secured container carry and is immune from liability for his/her ineptitude. Quotas = bogus charges simply to make numbers regardless of criminal intent or malice. End of story.

Whistleblower admits: Chesterfield PD has a 'Quota System' -- new laws proposed

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