News - Local/State

Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008

Report lifts curtain on Rock Hill police work

Officers earned gift cards for issuing most traffic citations

The police study delivered this week at Rock Hill City Hall did more than recommend hiring more cops, revamping the drug unit and creating a joint city-county jail.

It also offered a rare glimpse into the inner workings of law enforcement in Rock Hill.

From traffic ticket quotas to punishments for using too much gas, the report unearthed details that usually aren't discussed in public.

National consulting firm Carroll Buracker & Associates recommended hiring 21 new police officers, a suggestion that city leaders will weigh in coming months. The cost would be $2.5 million in the first year and $1.5 million in the second.

Buracker's report gave high marks to Police Chief John Gregory and painted a generally positive picture of the department. Still, some sources of tension emerged.

Tickets quotas come to light

In confidential interviews with Buracker, patrol officers complained of a perceived quota system that rewarded those who wrote the most traffic tickets. The top producers got gift cards.

Gregory said he stopped approving such rewards after Buracker told him they were causing friction among patrol squads. The department never had a quota system, Gregory said, but the rewards led officers to act as though it did.

"It was a perception, not a real or intentional issue," Gregory said. "That's why it was discontinued."

The officers with the "most activities" each month would win gift certificates or bonuses, Buracker found. Activities can include arrests, warrants and warnings, but traffic tickets are considered the easiest to issue.

"Some officers will write a person for eight miles over the speed limit, just to make the (supervisor) happy," Buracker said one person told him.

The gift card incentives may have helped drive up ticket totals. Rock Hill police issued 10,428 traffic citations last year, compared to 7,041 in 2003.

Also, 97 percent more citations were issued on Wednesdays, when a shift rotation leaves the highest number of traffic cops on duty, Buracker said. The consultant suggested changing the rotation to strike a balance.

The idea of a quota system for traffic tickets has become something of an urban legend, especially in small towns where drivers believe cops need to write tickets to fund their budgets.

But the consultant said his firm hasn't encountered a system involving gift certificates in any of the 200 police agencies it has reviewed.

Asked about his town's policy, Fort Mill Police Chief Jeff Helms said he doesn't use quotas.

"What I tell our officers is, no matter how many tickets you write, make sure they're good cases," Helms said. "We want to give every person we stop the benefit of the doubt. If they're borderline, then you don't write them."

State troopers are busy enough responding to accidents and service calls that they don't focus on the number of tickets they are issuing, said S.C. Highway Patrol spokesman Sid Gaulden.

"There's no pressure on them to issue a certain number of citations," Gaulden said. "Basically, they're told to enforce the law."

Saving gas

Complaints also surfaced over a program that pressured officers to save gas while on patrol. Those officers who used the most gas during patrol shifts would be placed on desk jobs for a period of time, Buracker found.

Gregory said he ended the gas mileage punishments shortly after Buracker brought them to his attention.

"We were doing a lot of things to reduce our gas mileage," Gregory said. "I think it was an effort to get some people's attention. But again, we recognized it was not the best way to do it."