OPP officers complain about ticket quotas
05-05-2006, 04:13 PM
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OPP officers complain about ticket quotas
OPP officers say 'quotas' force them to lay traffic charges
Five from Renfrew complain policy sets monthly rate
Kate Jaimet, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Friday, May 05, 2006
Five Renfrew OPP officers have laid complaints with the Ontario Provincial Police Association over a policy they feel forces them to lay 25 charges for traffic violations and other offences each month.
"We're going to be looking into it further," said Sgt. Karl Walsh, the president of the association, which represents rank-and-file police officers.
Sgt. Walsh said the association's next step will be to discuss the matter with a chief superintendant in the OPP's East Region, which includes the Renfrew detachment.
The officers made the complaints on Wednesday at the Renfrew branch meeting of the OPP Association, Sgt. Walsh said.
Although he could not discuss the complaints in detail, he said they revolved around the way "work standards" were being applied in the Renfrew detachment.
The detachment has a work standard that encourages officers to lay 25 charges -- including traffic tickets and other charges -- in a month.
One Renfrew OPP officer, who contacted the Citizen last week and spoke on condition of anonymity, referred to the work standard as a "quota" and said officers who don't meet it have notices, which can affect their career advancement, put in their personnel files.
But the detachment commander, Staff Sgt. Mike Forster, said there is no quota system in Renfrew.
"It's completely false," Staff Sgt. Forster said. "They have to have a work standard, like everybody else ... (But) a work standard is not a quota."
The Citizen spoke to Staff Sgt. Forster yesterday afternoon and earlier in the week about the issue, but could not reach him last evening to comment directly on the laying of the five complaints.
The officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said the "quota" causes officers to lay multiple charges in situations where one or two would suffice, and to give out tickets for minor traffic offences, where they might normally let people off with a warning.
It is not known whether the officer is one of the five who complained to the association.
But Staff Sgt. Forster said officers still have discretion in laying tickets for minor offences, and aren't penalized just for failing to give out 25 tickets a month.
"Normally, nobody will get in trouble for doing anything unless it's a repetitive thing," he said. "If somebody is getting documented for something at the end of the month, it's not just because he didn't give tickets."
The Renfrew detachment has 38 officers, but the work standard, which was put in place two years ago, only applies to "the ones on the road," Staff Sgt. Forster said.
He said the work standard encompasses all aspects of policing, including the number of shifts officers work, the number of calls they respond to and the meetings and training courses they attend.
The mention of 25 charges a month comes up as part of this work standard, he said, because it represents the average number of charges laid by the officers in the detachment, who generally work sixteen 12-hour shifts each month.
"That averages out to just over one-and-a-half tickets in a 12-hour shift, which really is not much," Staff Sgt. Forster said.
No one is strictly held to that number, he added.
"I could have an officer lay 10 criminal charges in a month, but then that takes up his whole time because then there's followup, there's statements, there's evidence to tag. It's more time-consuming," he said.
"Whereas other officers that aren't doing criminal calls, or have nothing that requires followup, well, you know, you've got a 12-hour shift. You better be doing something to fill in your time."
Staff Sgt. Forster said that public surveys in the Renfrew area show more than 90 per cent of respondents are "satisfied or very satisfied" with the service they receive from the OPP.
"We're accountable to the public. And work performance standards help keep our people accountable, tell us where we are, and engage us in our job," he said.
Work performance standards are not unique to Renfrew. They also exist in the OPP detachments along the 400-series highway corridor -- Whitby, Port Credit, Niagara, Burlington, Aurora, Caledon, Cambridge and Toronto -- collectively known as the Highway Safety Division.
Chief Supt. Bill Grodzinski, commander of the Highway Safety Division, said he is not aware of the Renfrew situation.
He said that different OPP divisions have had unwritten standards for generations, but formal performance standards were introduced in January 2005.
"Every time you mention that word, you hear the word 'quota.' It is not a quota," he said. "This is probably new for some people, to see it explicitly laid out. We're formalizing something that's been in place for a long time."
In the Highway Safety Division, the standard encourages officers to lay 25 traffic tickets a month -- 20 for aggressive driving offences and five for seatbelt offences.
It was introduced after an extensive review of traffic safety across the province and developed in consultation with front-line police officers and the association, Chief Supt. Grodzinski said.
"Each OPP region has introduced some form of performance standards, and that's been left up to them to do locally. Each detachment knows their local situation."
He said the object is to increase police visibility on highways, improve the quality of traffic investigations and reduce fatalities, especially those caused by people driving while impaired or not wearing their seatbelts.
"It's about a balance. It's about an expectation. It's not a hammer approach," Chief Supt. Grodzinski said.
Sgt. Walsh said while it's reasonable for the OPP as an employer to expect output from its employees, the association takes issue if the work standard is applied as a quota.
"It has happened that that number has been strictly adhered to by some of the managers (in the 401 corridor), and there has been some consequence to that.
"The consequence would be a form of negative documentation put on the personnel file of that person," Sgt. Walsh said.
"Our view is that that should not happen. Because it's a little arbitrary to say to someone: 'We expect you to give out 25 highway traffic offence tickets in one month,' not taking into consideration the other pressures that the officers face.
"One domestic in one shift can put an officer behind the eight ball."
Mr. Walsh said the association has intervened in "less than a handful" of cases before the five Renfrew complaints, and has always been successful in having the negative documentation removed from officers' files.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2006
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/index.html
Five from Renfrew complain policy sets monthly rate
Kate Jaimet, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Friday, May 05, 2006
Five Renfrew OPP officers have laid complaints with the Ontario Provincial Police Association over a policy they feel forces them to lay 25 charges for traffic violations and other offences each month.
"We're going to be looking into it further," said Sgt. Karl Walsh, the president of the association, which represents rank-and-file police officers.
Sgt. Walsh said the association's next step will be to discuss the matter with a chief superintendant in the OPP's East Region, which includes the Renfrew detachment.
The officers made the complaints on Wednesday at the Renfrew branch meeting of the OPP Association, Sgt. Walsh said.
Although he could not discuss the complaints in detail, he said they revolved around the way "work standards" were being applied in the Renfrew detachment.
The detachment has a work standard that encourages officers to lay 25 charges -- including traffic tickets and other charges -- in a month.
One Renfrew OPP officer, who contacted the Citizen last week and spoke on condition of anonymity, referred to the work standard as a "quota" and said officers who don't meet it have notices, which can affect their career advancement, put in their personnel files.
But the detachment commander, Staff Sgt. Mike Forster, said there is no quota system in Renfrew.
"It's completely false," Staff Sgt. Forster said. "They have to have a work standard, like everybody else ... (But) a work standard is not a quota."
The Citizen spoke to Staff Sgt. Forster yesterday afternoon and earlier in the week about the issue, but could not reach him last evening to comment directly on the laying of the five complaints.
The officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said the "quota" causes officers to lay multiple charges in situations where one or two would suffice, and to give out tickets for minor traffic offences, where they might normally let people off with a warning.
It is not known whether the officer is one of the five who complained to the association.
But Staff Sgt. Forster said officers still have discretion in laying tickets for minor offences, and aren't penalized just for failing to give out 25 tickets a month.
"Normally, nobody will get in trouble for doing anything unless it's a repetitive thing," he said. "If somebody is getting documented for something at the end of the month, it's not just because he didn't give tickets."
The Renfrew detachment has 38 officers, but the work standard, which was put in place two years ago, only applies to "the ones on the road," Staff Sgt. Forster said.
He said the work standard encompasses all aspects of policing, including the number of shifts officers work, the number of calls they respond to and the meetings and training courses they attend.
The mention of 25 charges a month comes up as part of this work standard, he said, because it represents the average number of charges laid by the officers in the detachment, who generally work sixteen 12-hour shifts each month.
"That averages out to just over one-and-a-half tickets in a 12-hour shift, which really is not much," Staff Sgt. Forster said.
No one is strictly held to that number, he added.
"I could have an officer lay 10 criminal charges in a month, but then that takes up his whole time because then there's followup, there's statements, there's evidence to tag. It's more time-consuming," he said.
"Whereas other officers that aren't doing criminal calls, or have nothing that requires followup, well, you know, you've got a 12-hour shift. You better be doing something to fill in your time."
Staff Sgt. Forster said that public surveys in the Renfrew area show more than 90 per cent of respondents are "satisfied or very satisfied" with the service they receive from the OPP.
"We're accountable to the public. And work performance standards help keep our people accountable, tell us where we are, and engage us in our job," he said.
Work performance standards are not unique to Renfrew. They also exist in the OPP detachments along the 400-series highway corridor -- Whitby, Port Credit, Niagara, Burlington, Aurora, Caledon, Cambridge and Toronto -- collectively known as the Highway Safety Division.
Chief Supt. Bill Grodzinski, commander of the Highway Safety Division, said he is not aware of the Renfrew situation.
He said that different OPP divisions have had unwritten standards for generations, but formal performance standards were introduced in January 2005.
"Every time you mention that word, you hear the word 'quota.' It is not a quota," he said. "This is probably new for some people, to see it explicitly laid out. We're formalizing something that's been in place for a long time."
In the Highway Safety Division, the standard encourages officers to lay 25 traffic tickets a month -- 20 for aggressive driving offences and five for seatbelt offences.
It was introduced after an extensive review of traffic safety across the province and developed in consultation with front-line police officers and the association, Chief Supt. Grodzinski said.
"Each OPP region has introduced some form of performance standards, and that's been left up to them to do locally. Each detachment knows their local situation."
He said the object is to increase police visibility on highways, improve the quality of traffic investigations and reduce fatalities, especially those caused by people driving while impaired or not wearing their seatbelts.
"It's about a balance. It's about an expectation. It's not a hammer approach," Chief Supt. Grodzinski said.
Sgt. Walsh said while it's reasonable for the OPP as an employer to expect output from its employees, the association takes issue if the work standard is applied as a quota.
"It has happened that that number has been strictly adhered to by some of the managers (in the 401 corridor), and there has been some consequence to that.
"The consequence would be a form of negative documentation put on the personnel file of that person," Sgt. Walsh said.
"Our view is that that should not happen. Because it's a little arbitrary to say to someone: 'We expect you to give out 25 highway traffic offence tickets in one month,' not taking into consideration the other pressures that the officers face.
"One domestic in one shift can put an officer behind the eight ball."
Mr. Walsh said the association has intervened in "less than a handful" of cases before the five Renfrew complaints, and has always been successful in having the negative documentation removed from officers' files.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2006
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/index.html
