You know that feeling you get when driving and you look in the mirror and see a Motor-Cycle cop behind you? How fast am I going? Am I on the phone? Is he actually going to pull me over? Please don’t pull me over. I think most of us have experienced that. Sometimes we get stopped and sometimes not. Sometimes we get a ticket and sometimes not. Maybe just a warning and a sigh of relief. Well, if you drive in Irvine don’t expect the warning. Expect to be stopped. Expect a citation. The Traffic Bureau is in full force. And with good reason.
Recently I made the acquaintance of an Irvine Police Officer. At one time I wanted to be a cop so I have always been interested in hearing them talk about their work. As we talked policing I began to notice I was hearing a lot of enthusiam about Police work in general but a lot of complaining about doing it in Irvine? What was the trouble?
This Officer is a seasoned veteran and he began to relax and share his concerns. “It’s the leadership. There isn’t any.” I pressed him for more. It seems that Officer morale is very low. There are a variety of reasons for low police morale in the so called Safest City in America. So I thought maybe it would make a good story. Would he be willing to discuss the Police Department and its problems and let me publish them. The answer was an immediate yes, with one condition: his name could not be revealed. Fear of profesional reprisal was a great concern. “The Department keeps its problems on the inside but then doesn’t address them unless forced to.” Well, could I be put in touch with other Officers who would be willing to speak openly. I didn’t want to write from just one perspective. One cop complaining could just be sour grapes but several might be something else indeed.
As I spoke with different Officers at different stages of their careers the conversation turned away from “Safest City” to the low morale of the Officers. Once it was agreed that I would not use their names they were more candid with their discussion. They do not feel that leadership in the Department looks out for their interests.
The most consistent issue raised is the alleged existence of a ticket quota system. Both departmental policy as well as State law prohibit the institution of ticket quotas. And while officially there may not be one the officers tell me there essentially is one in effect. The Traffic Bureau is apparently driven hard by its command to write more and more tickets. Of course one would expect traffic officers to be expected to write tickets. What would not be expected would be a system that drives officers to compete with one another for the distiction of writing the most or derided for writing the least. My sources tell me that is exactly what is occuring in Irvine. I was told they keep a “stat board” in the Traffic Bureau that displays officers names, number of citations written, average per day, etc. It allows them all to see who is doing the “best” and who is doing the “worst.” They tell me this is contrary to Departmental Policy and takes away from their effectiveness. Officer discretion is out. The mantra, “write more citations” is in.
In all fairness though one must ask what does the Chief and his staff have to say about all of this? Phone calls to the Chief’s office and the Public Information Officer were not returned. Granted I’m just a Blogger and not from the Times or the Register but since the Department employs a full time Public Information Officer I had hoped to hear back. However, I tried emailing the Chief himself and to his credit he emailed me back right away and said he would be out of the office and would get back to me and answer some of my questions in a couple of days. Again, to his credit, he did.
Chief Maggard, who has lead the department since 2003, is very proud of the safest city recordand “the fact it has maintained the lowest crime rate of any large city in the nation for the past 8 years.” I asked him about the alleged quota system. I asked the following: “One complaint I have heard from within the ranks is that Traffic Officers are being pressured to the point of a “quota system.” It has been alleged that not only does one of your Lieutenants push on ticket quotas they post a “leader board” in the Traffic Department like one might expect to see in a sales department; including who has written the most tickets, average citations a day etc. for all to see. Are you aware of this? Doesn’t this violate policy? Clearly such a display is not for statistical purposes but for the driving of competition and something I would think the Chief would not condone if made aware?”
The Chief responded to this query. Sort of. “As far as the existence of a traffic ctation quota system within our Traffic Bureau or anywhere else in the Department, I can assure you it does not exist. In fact, the following policy explicitly prohibits such a system.” He then cites the vehicle code and departmental policy, which in fact, does prohibit the institution of a “quota system.” However, the citation as well as the answer given conveniently skips over the existence or not of a “leader board”, well, see for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
The chief thanked me and hoped that our communication, “helps address some of your questions and clarifies any misconceptions.” Well, yes and no. I am definitely wondering what was a misconception, especially with regard to the “quota system” that Officers tell me exists in a de-facto state if not in official policy. .
So back to the rank and file officers. Is the board that big of a deal? Do they real press on the tickets that much? All of the officers I spoke with agreed that indeed they are pressured to write more and more. Apparently not long ago there was a big push to write cell phone tickets. Irvine, the officers tell me, wrote more cell phone tickets than any City in the County as well as other Counties. One officer said he was so fed up with the whole push he didn’t write a single one during this period. A solitary and quiet protest.
One email exchange with the Chief was not a fair counterbalance to the officers. Most workers complain about their bosses. So, I looked for another authority to speak with. A manager, yet closer to the ground level than the Chief’s office. Everyone pointed toward Lieutenant Hallinan of the Traffic Bureau. As a matter of fact my sources told me HE was the man behind the “stat board” and the one who pressed so hard about citations. Well, I wrote to the Lieutenant. I shared with him that the existence of a de-facto quota system was being raised and would he address it. I asked him the questions I posed to the Chief adding to it that he had been named personally as being behind the board in question. I tried to be as clear and direct as possible: “does such a competetive board with said rankings exist? If it does, was it at your initiation? And finally, depending on the previous answers wouldn’t such a policy be in violation of Departmental policy such as: Operational responsibilities General Order 2.00.0 2.050 Field Supervisor (Sergeant)…paragraph 8, sergeants shall not, through expression or implication, emphasize a minimum productivity standard or “quota” of arrests, citations or other like enforcement activities. Sergeants should ensure that each employee’s performance reflects a balance between enforcement and service consistent with the agency’s mission, vision and values.” I thanked himin advance and waited for a reply. After a day I sent it again with a note asking him to at least verify receiving it. He quickly and graciously replied. He even apologized for not getting back to me sooner. Apparently he is moving from the traffic Bureau to the Office of Profesional Standards. He thanked me for my questions and then answered them. Sort of.
“Our work in the Irvine Traffic Bureau is to ensure the safety of our residents and visitors who use our roadways, sidewalks and bike paths. The officers assigned to the Traffic Bureau are expected to work hard each day, effectively utilizing their time to enforce traffic laws, respond to motor related traffic collisions and mitigate traffic issues.”
“We encourage our officers to use their skills and discretion to raise awareness and educate motorists about safe driving habits. We work with a lot of different departments to develop and implement solutions to reduce the likelihood of traffic collisions. We are fortunate to have great cops who play a significant role in enforcing our traffic laws in order to reduce collision related deaths and injuries. Among many goals our officers keepour community safe by removing impaired drivers from our roadways, enforcing seatbelt and car seat laws and citing distracted drivers who share our roadways.”
There’s more.
“As noted, one of the responsibilities of a traffic officer is to enforce the traffic laws. It has been proven that there is a direct corelation between the enforcement of traffic laws and reduction of injuring traffic collisions. Because of our officers outstanding work we have been able to have a reduction in injury traffic collisions in just the past six months.” With that, he thanked and invited me to contact him again if needed. Well, yeah. I got a lot of good information about the traffic bureau and its mission but I seemed to miss an actual answer to my questions.
So, I wrote back and got to the point, “So just to clarify.There is or isn’t a quota?There is or is not the stat leader board I described? And if there is it was or was not your implementation?” Lieutenant Hallinan got back to me and gave me my answers. Sort of.
“I can confirm the Irvine Police Department does not have a quota system. I believe last week Chief Maggard provided you with a copy of our current policy prohibiting quotas.” Indeed he did.
“I can tell you that our police department, like most, keeps detailed statistics as a way to document crime rates, predict criminal activity, measure our effectiveness…our service to the community and to meet the state and federal grant requirements. To help us track these numbers we have several crime analysts who are responsible for maintaining our statistics. In the Traffic Bureau we keep statistics related to factors associated with vehicle collisions, as well as related injuries, deaths and citations.”
Here it comes. “We do have a board in the traffic office to provide us an up-to-date perspective on our activity. I am proud of the work our traffic cops perform each day…they work hard and I want to acknowledge their effort. I am also inspired by the hard work of all of our officers. We have had an increase in overall self- initiated activity and our officers are out in the community making a difference. As you might imagine police work is dynamic and varies day-to-day. Our cops are highly trained, self-motivated and are invested in their profession and to the protection of our community.”
Now it is time to put my Philosophy degree to work and de-construct some of that last paragraph: The board in the traffic office provides an up to date perspective? Don’t the paid statisticians provide that information in a meaningful format? The one that really captures my attention though is: “We have had an increase in overall self-initiated activity…” I’m not surprised given a public performance board. We know who wrote the most citations and the least. Can that purpose be any other than to breed competitiveness as to who can write the most citations? Is there a board for helping old ladies cross the street or pulling up next to a slightly speeding motorist and giving him a look that immediately reduces the speed and increases safety? Not that I have heard about. The officers I spoke with say the days of warnings and discretion are out the window. You want to be treated fairly and advance? Write more tickets.
The Lieutenant is suggesting the board as a helpful visual aid. It reminds me of boards on the walls of elementary classrooms reminding students to behave. So that perhaps one of these:
Is not really much different than one of these:
So either it is a competetive leader board to push the officers of the bureau toward a de-facto if not actual quota system OR it is a juvenile board to remind the “children” whose doing the best. Either way the officers don’t like it and find it and what lies behind it offensive.
This is just one of the areas that officers are concerned about with regard to their leaders. Others concern officer and citizen safety. Perhaps a shameless plug for my next piece, let’s just say it involves one cop breaking the neck of another. Until then, buckle up and drive safely.
Mr. Tipton,
Will you please contact me. I met with the Chief in May and I have more information for you!
As I’ve been writing on state, national, and local blogs for years — take away taxes and fees and the cities will turn to fines. The winners are the auto insurance companies for whom those tickets mean higher premiums.
This goes on here too, but it doesnt stop with tickets.
in every organization, law enforcement, or otherwise you will find a certain number of disgruntled employees. Cops are the worst complainers, but mostly we do it among ourselves to release frustrations of the job. Rarely, do we take those gripes outside the organization.
Before retirement, I worked for Irvine P.D. for twenty seven of my thirty five in law enforcement. As a Police Manager for seventeen of those years, I can tell you with some authority that we never had any sort of a quota system for traffic citations, arrests or any of the other things an Officer does on a daily basis. We did examine the work product of each Officer at the end of every month and with human behavior being what it is, there would be times when some people would be slacking off and would need a prod to get motivated again. I confess to having been a prodder, but my Team loved to come to work every day, as did I.
Regarding Traffic Officers, unless things have changed, they work within a structured Traffic Management Program. Detailed statistics are kept on traffic collisions, time of day, locations and Vehicle Code violation leading to the accident. Traffic Officers are assigned to specific areas of the city and they are required to know where the accidents are happening and what violations are causing them. The primary function of the Officer is to initiate enforcement efforts to prevent accidents from occurring. Does this entail writing citations, you bet it does. Experience shows most people have forgotten a verbal warining before they have driven two blocks after the stop. In my earlier days in Costa Mesa when working as a Traffic Officer I made on the average 40 vehicle stops per day. 20 of those stops resulted in citations with the other half being verbal warnings. The point I am trying to make is that the Traffic Management Program is safety oriented and not revenue driven. It has always been that way and is likely to continue, because the program works. I might add, being appointed a Traffic Officer is a promotion of sorts. The Officers get to ride those cool motors and get paid a hazzard bonus every month for doing it.
Since no longer working at Irvine P.D. I cannot attest to the morale of the Officers. With them having been short sheeted by the City Council for the past four years, I can understand they might believe their contributions to making Irvine America’s Safest City are not appreciated. Rather than taking the word of one, two or three Officers, I would encourage the writer of this article to ask Chief Maggard to be scheduled to attend the next Citizens Police Academy. It is a great Progam and gives citizens an inside look at their Police Department and the men and wome who work there. Do this and you will come away with a new appreciation of what your Police Department is doing. For a blogger, it would be a great opportunity to do a series of writings on an interesting topic.
Ltpar,
That is great you had a wonderful 27 years with IPD, but how long ago did you retire? I know several officer that retired recently and the main reason that they left was the problems with morale and compensation. In fact, I met with the Chief and he admitted there is a morale problem with the department but was reluctant to divulge too much information. You said that you were in management, could your viewpoint be skewed since you were not an officer for the last 17 years of your career? It seems that all Mr. Tipton is trying to find out is if there is a stat board in the traffic unit and he doesn’t seem to be getting any answers, in your 27 years on the force, did you have or use one? Some of the retirees that I spoke to said that they no longer got a paid bonus for their performance; while you were there, did you have a paid bonus program for your performance? If so, it would only seem logical that your employees would be excited to go to work and work hard! As you have admitted City Council hasn’t taken care of our officers, so why wouldn’t they be disgruntled and morale will be low? Irvine has the moniker of “Safest City”, however it doesn’t seem to pertain to taking care of the officers that provide that safety.
Mia, to answer your questions, yes I was part of management but my views were not skewed. For seventeen of those years I was the elected President of the Irvine Police Association and represented the interests and fought the battles on behalf of the Officers. I was the only Lieutenant to ever hold the position as President which should attest to my committment to the Officers. I caught most of my grief from the Chief of Police at the time, a guys who ws the worst we ever experienced. I led the IPA Board of Directors and we negotiated MOU contracts with the City and were among the highest compensated in Orange County. I also handled all Officer related grieviences both within the department and with City Hall. We were politically active and carried considerable influence with the elected officials. While they never loved us, they did understand the influence the Cops carried with the community and could that we could help or hurt them at election time. After I stepped down and later retired, the new Board got into bed with management and thought more about their own promotions than in representing the people who elected them. They refused to help Officers with grieviences and gave away rights and benefits we had fought to achieve in negotiations. They lost their political clout, which led to Larry Agran sticking it to them on a forced contract four years ago. The bonus you ask about is actually part of the Pay for Performance Plan. It has existed for many years in the city and is designed to reward employees for they job they are doing. Each year every Officer got a performance evaluation and a pay increase ranging from 0% to 8%. What Larry Agran and his clones did was to overule City Personnel Regulations and suspend the Pay for Performance Program and of course the merit Increases. I tried to tell the Association at the time the city was doing this illegally and should be challenged, but no one listened that I am aware of. Pay For Performance was and is still part of the initial Employment Contract that each Officer was hired under and in my laymans oipinion can not be suspended arbitrarily by the City Council. Bottom line is that the Police Association has done a sorry job over the past twelve years representing it’s members and they are now paying the price. I offered to come back and work as the Association General Manager to take care of these issues for them, but the Officers were not interested. A couple even called me a dinosauer from the past, meaning of course that they were still in Junior high school when Irvine was the the best paid department in Orange County. Until enough Officers are fed up with getting the brown end of the stick, grow a backbone and stand up for themselves, morale will continue to get worse.
From the photos with the article, it appears that they do have some sort of statistical board on the wall, which records the productivity of the Traffic Officers. We used to use a monthly statistical form which each Officer would record their daily activity and turn in at the end of the month. With the computerization, don’t know if they still do that. You need to understand that Cops are human beings just like all the other working folks and need to be motivated from time to time. I used to meet with my team at the end of every month and go over their monthly recap. It was a one on one meeting, there was no public embarrassing them and no ass chewing. I simply used smiley faces for the good areas (most of them were) and frowny faces for the areas that needed some adjustment. The difference between a Manager and a Leader is that the latter gets motivation and corrrective counseling done in a positive win-win fashion. The Traffic Management Program also used a large wall mounted statistical chart, but it reflected the accidents, locations and what caused them. That is what the we used as our Bible for enforcement actions. Since I have been gone for a while, they may have discarded the Traffic Management Program and if they did it was a mistake. From a former insider perspective I can see a number of areas within the department which could stand improvement. Being the old dinosauer however, it is not my job to judge how they are running things nor to criticize. Irvine Police Department is in my opinion, still the finest in California.
Here it’s all about numbers, which leads to bad police work…..It leads to bad police work because police managers want numbers so they can say “look what I have done” which leads to promotions. So where do the numbers come from? The officers working the streets. The street cop wants to be promoted also and is pretty much garanteed a promotion by the manager if numbers are produced. This is where the bad police work comes in. The pursuit of high numbers leads to bad police work and lots of BAD ARREST are made because the focus is quanity not quality…….The driving force is greed and power…….a lot of times a good hearted cop, who was treated with respect will probably just give you a warning but if he wants to promote your probably getting a ticket or going to jail.
Truth……..the real truth of the issue is that in the big picture of the real world, law enforcement is no different than any other job. There are standards to be met, goals and objectives (productivity) to be achieved and most importantly, clients to be serviced.
If you are a Cop and partiicularly an Irvine Cop, then you know we do things differently than in most other cities. It was that way from Day 1, in July 1975 and continues to be so today. The Irvine Vision developed by Chief Leo Peart was that we were going to build a partnership with the citizens of the community. He promoted proactive law enforcement, as opposed to the typical reactive approach. In those days, other Cops thought Irvine had gone off the deep end and we were a bunch of wimps. However, as the years passed and the Police-Citizen partnership in Irvine continued to grow other departments discovered this new concept called Community Policing. In Irvine, we just smiled, because we had already been doing Community Policing here long before the “buzz word” was coined. To assure we were all on the same sheet of music, we conducted formal Community Policing training for all department employees from the Patrol Officers to the Records Clerks and Dispatchers. We all became problem solvers, adding to the partnership which already existed. Some or the more traditional Cops were resistant to Community Policing, because they believed it to be that “touchy-feelie” stuff and not real police work. The formal training quickly corrected that misinformation. Community Policing is but one spoke in the wheel of what we do to provide first class policing service to the citizens of Irvine. Yep, we still made arrests, wrote traffic citations, completed Field Interview Cards, and all the other traditional tasks that go with our job. We set our standards high and hired only the “best of the best” applicants to work in Irvine.
tHowever, there are times when human nature overwhelms us? All of us, myself included, needed a bit of motivation from time to time to keep working at the high levels expected. While Leo Peart was here, we had the leadership to provide that positive motivation. After Peart retired, the next Chief was a disaster looking for a place to happen and unfortunately it was Irivne. Leadership in the department decreased substantially, there was a lot of friction, morale was terrible, but the men and women on the streets continued to do nothing less than outstanding work. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”
Productivity is a part of our job, just as it is anyplace else. If an Officer works Uniform Patrol he/she is expected to do more than just drive around and smile at people. Their job is to prevent crime in an assigned area and help people solve problems. No quotas involved, just doing the job you are paid well to do. Same with Traffic Officers, reduce the accidents by enforcing the Vehicle Code. Can’t do that by waving at the motorist who is speeding or making that unsafe lane change. Traffic Officers write citations, ride motors and get paid extra to do so. Investigators are expected to work and close their cases in a timely manner. The victims of the crimes deserve nothing less. The list goes on and on as to the expectations of the various positions, but they all require productivity. All the stuff you laid out there about the productivity pressure leading to bad arrests is a load of crap. If you are doing that, then there is a superviosry/management problem in your unit. You never would have gotten away with bad arrests, had you been working for me.
If you believe the driving force behind Irvine P.D. is “greed and power,” you are working in the wrong city and need to think about a change of employment. If you do work for Irvine, I guess the hiring standards have dropped, because you sure as hell don’t sound like one of the “best of the best?” Although no longer there, I am confident that the vast majority of men and women at Irvine P.D. still meet that high standard and even though times are tough right now, will continue to give the citizens 100%. Sorry for the rambling, but I thought your comments deserved a history lesson on how Irvine became the excellent department it is today.
Ltpar,
It’s a shame that you retired, it seems like the department is need of someone like you! So from what you are saying, it does appear that there’s a leadership issue within the department, and the police and association are not sticking up for the their officers. However, as a resident I believe that a stat board is wrong because it puts too much pressure on our cops to write tickets, rather then letting them use their best judgement. Here’s a thought, instead of focusing on traffic citations and keeping a tally on who has written the most, maybe the department should focus on the uptick of property crimes that the city has been experiencing; or possibly hiring more patrol officers to cover the city which has grown tremendously within the last 15 years!
It’s my understanding that IPD is one of the lowest compensated departments in Orange County, no wonder there is a lack of motivation and morale issues. I’ve met with the Chief and he didn’t want to talk about morale, in fact he was enraged when I brought it up and was more worried on how I obtained my information than listening to my concerns, eventually he did admit that there was a problem within the department but was reluctant in providing me with a solution. As the Chief, I would think that the morale of your department is important especially when your a service based organization.
If the comment by “The Truth” is an accurate assessment of the department then there seems to be a serious lack of balance which is a huge concern since the officers do not have discretion when doing their job.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m assuming that you have not been at the department in a very long time and things have changed. I’m sure that you still know officers that are working, maybe you can hear what they have to say and shed some light on the subject for the rest of us. I appreciate your responses to my questions, It seems that when I speak to any of the retirees they are more willing to be vocal with their honest opinions about the department since they no longer have the fear of not being promoted. I look forward to your response.
Mia, you have some good questions and as a resident deserve to have them answered honestly. Please understand that I am loyal to my former department and reluctant to second guess or criticize how they are currently managing things. If you have additional questions, which apparently you do, I would be happy to meet with you in person for coffee and provide whatever information I can. If you ae interested, please contact me at Ltpar@aol.com and we can schedule something. Thanks for your concerns about the department, it is citizens such as yourself that have made the job worthwhile all those years.
As a retired Traffic motor cop for Irvine P.D. I can tell you that citations are generated for safety reasons. The “Traffic Index” is a mathematical formula which shows a direct relationship between citations issued and injury traffic collisions. Accidents are reduced when moving violation citations are issued in problem areas.
Of course there is always the human element of job perception, leadership issues, complaints etc. There are many reason stats are reviewed. One is to evaluate where the traffic problems lie within the city. Another is to make sure employees are not slacking off. Of course there are other reasons to review stats as well.
The problem occurs when supervisors put too much emphasis on stats and micro manage officers. This causes moral problems. Sometimes the complains are justified. Sometimes you have whinny officers who do not wish to maintain a strong work ethic.
Steve Lewis, Retired Irvine P.D. Former motor officer.
I was an officer at Irvine PD 9 years ago and it sounds like traffic pretty much runs the same. Police officers tend to be competitive with each other. Irvind has always had had a pretty aggressive traffic bureau and for good reason. Most Irvine arterial roadways have very high speed limits, some are as high as 65MPH and with most collisions occurring at intersections, that makes for some pretty nasty crashes. Enforcement does reduce collisions because everyone sees the officers doing their job.
Irvine has some of the most professional police officers to be found anywhere and a very supportive community. I’m not surprised to hear complaining. ALL cops complain, even happy cops. I should know, I think I almost made a second career complaining.
Ltpar,
I would happy to meet with you, I will forward an email to your personal account. I do have to say, I am really sick of everyone trying to be so politically correct! I wish people would just man up and say the truth!
I’m told that both Steve and Vic haven’t been at Irvine in more than 9 years so how do they know what’s going on there these days?
[Ed. Note: I added “Not the” to the commenters name because othewise it sounds like he or she is the IPD, which they are not the.]
Irvine PD has a growing reputation as one of the most citizen harassing, overzealous, rights violating police organizations in Orange County. Not surprised to read about leadership and morale problems here.
A check of the facts reveals that Irvine officers with a certain number of drunk driving arrests (not CONVICTIONS) get rewarded with accolades and media attention. This makes the bar for probable cause very low and a foments an “arrest first and ask questions later” mentality.
The department has, over the years, paid out MILLIONS in settlements due to overzealous enforcement, false arrest, sexual abuse and brutality.
Find out more about Irvine Police Department here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLT73RnVdV90OOk7w0E5gMA