Traffic Units / Motor Officers - Enforcement Expectations

[PBG297]

How many stops does your supervisor/agency expect from a motor officer for each shift? I'm not concerned with tickets vs. warnings, just enforcement activity. What about traffic officers assigned to cars?

Along with your answer, please state the size of your traffic unit, number of motors, number of traffic cars.

I'm a Sergeant with a 130-sworn municipality and I've been recently transplanted to Traffic. I'm curious to see the differences by geography and agency size.

[StudChris]

We're a town with 25,000ish residents, with two of the biggest roads in Central Florida going through us. Our traffic unit is 6 during the day and 2 of us at night for DUIs. We're all in cars (unfortunately, no more bikes). The good thing about working nights on the DUI unit is we still have discretion and give a lot of warnings. That's not the policy for day shift traffic of course... but a traffic unit is a traffic unit, and they're expected to write a lot of tickets. No number is stated, just a "do your job"

That didn't really answer your question did it?

[RoadKingTrooper]

How many stops does your supervisor/agency expect from a motor officer for each shift? I'm not concerned with tickets vs. warnings, just enforcement activity. What about traffic officers assigned to cars?

Along with your answer, please state the size of your traffic unit, number of motors, number of traffic cars.

I'm a Sergeant with a 130-sworn municipality and I've been recently transplanted to Traffic. I'm curious to see the differences by geography and agency size.

Well when I rode a motor, our Dept had about 600 sworn, 250 cars and 20 motors. Weather kept me off it for about 6 months each year (snow)

Enforcement? I thought they just put me on it to look "cool".............It DID too!

[SgtCHP]

Only for the purposes of employee evaluations it would be reasonable to expect at a minimum of one ENFORCEMENT contact per free hour of patrol. Enforcement contacts can be arrests, tickets, mechanical violations, verbal warnings. In fact, two would not be illogical. After all, the job of traffic units and motors is to enforce traffic laws; and, we all know how prevalent violations are in any given area.

Remember, this is for evaluation purposes only and does not constitute a quota. Numbers are the game, enforcement is the name!

You have to take into account all aspects of the duties - calls for service, assistance to the public, accidents investigated, traffic control, calls for tows, removal of traffic hazards, providing assistance to beat units, general patrol and looking cool, miles driven, etc., etc., etc.

[PBG297]

We're a town with 25,000ish residents, with two of the biggest roads in Central Florida going through us. Our traffic unit is 6 during the day and 2 of us at night for DUIs. We're all in cars (unfortunately, no more bikes). The good thing about working nights on the DUI unit is we still have discretion and give a lot of warnings. That's not the policy for day shift traffic of course... but a traffic unit is a traffic unit, and they're expected to write a lot of tickets. No number is stated, just a "do your job"

That didn't really answer your question did it?

Nope, lol. I assume you're referring to SR9 and the 'pike?

[EnWhyPeeDee]

NYPD Highway has a "performance goal" of around 80 summonses a month (X amount of speeders, X amount of red lights, etc)

[APDSgt]

Supv of my traffic unit - all cars, no motors. 80 sworn with 5 officers and myself in the unit.

I dont give them a set number, but I dont want them to come in with 2 or 3 a day either. They generally come in with about 12-15 written a day (10 hour shifts). Sometimes a few less, sometimes more. One guy hit more than 50 in a single day during click it or ticket.

[StudChris]

Nope, lol. I assume you're referring to SR9 and the 'pike?

Let me rephrase that, two the busiest non toll roads in Central Florida.

[andy5746]

How many stops does your supervisor/agency expect from a motor officer for each shift? I'm not concerned with tickets vs. warnings, just enforcement activity. What about traffic officers assigned to cars?

Along with your answer, please state the size of your traffic unit, number of motors, number of traffic cars.

I'm a Sergeant with a 130-sworn municipality and I've been recently transplanted to Traffic. I'm curious to see the differences by geography and agency size.

The city I work in has about 100,000 residents. We have 1 freeway that bisects it and a few major roadways (average traffic on the largest runs about 40,000 to 45,000 vehicles/day during the work week). We are 100% urban, mostly flat, and have a diverse population.

That being said, we have a sustainable traffic flow for consistnat enforcement efforts. I have a small team that consists of 3 motors, 1 traffic car and a commercial enforcement truck. They all have different capabilities and a different enforcement mission: Motors work intersections, speed and any other issues where their manuverability would be an asset. The traffic car does a lot of enforcement around the schools and the commercial enforcement truck stays out on the truck routes.

My biggest concern is VISIBILITY. If people see my guys out there, they slow down and pay attention to their driving. Also, we look at our traffic index and see where most of my colissions are happening and the causal factors. This helps me focus my team on where and when I want them to be seen and what kind of enforcement action I want them to take. Not all stops result in cites, but every stop needs to be logged to prove that we are out there.

I also put my money where my mouth is. I go out and work eforcement with my team about 1/2 of my shift (when the paperwork lets me!) and see first hand what is going on out there and where I need to direct their efforts. I write about 5 a day on average. My directive is that no one on my team does less work than I do. I want them to be out there, doing QUALITY enforcement. 20 tickets for no front plate or tinted windows doesn't do squat for the Traffic Mission. I want enforcement for the violations that cause the injury accidents: Speed, Red Lights, Unsafe Turns, etc.. Distractive behavior is also good to be cited, like use of cell phones while driving (citable out here), also kids not in proper child restraints.

Honestly, if they are writing about one QUALITY cite an hour, I'm good with that. Some days they get more, some less - it's all about averaging things out over the week & month. The true test is this: are accidents and traffic complaints in the area they are targeting decreasing? If not, then I have to take another look and see if there is another apporach to take or maybe an engeneering componant to the issue that needs to be addressed. No number to reach (quota/goal/performance objective) is given. First off, it's not legal. Secondly, I don't want the mission to be degenerated into a numbers game. The results are what count - if the true purpose is public safety.

If your city just wants revenue, then just forget everything I've written, find out what violations pay the largest fines and have your guys write as many of those as possible. But be prepaired for a public backlash. After a a few years of trying to balance the budget on the backs of your population, you will have pretty much eroded any positive connections and you'll have a nice "Us Vs. Them" situation which will take decades to reverse.


Bottom line - define your goals and adjust your efforts as needed. Try not to get cuaght up in the numbers alone (I know that's what the bean counters are really looking at) and look for changes in the population's driving behaviors based on your enforcement efforts.

It can be very frustrating - and rewarding. Good luck!

[ryker]

I work a small county SO with 4-5 total deputies per shift. They are ok with no traffic stops, no as in none. Many guys do less than 1 few per month.

Needless to say when I stop cars I get the "why hasn't no other officer told me". "I thought 15mph over the limit was allowed". etc etc

[Highwaylaw]

Here is my stereotypical motor cop response:


I write till the tickets are gone or the pen runs out of ink, whichever comes first.

[Taylor1430]

You guys just made me realize how understaffed our traffic unit is.

130 Sworn...population of 39k residents but is a popular vacation and destination so that number is much higher.

1 Cpl and 1 Ofc in our traffic safety division.

[bludragon]

We are about 213,000 residents. Department is around 200 sworn working plus too many administrators. Our traffic unit is WAY understaffed at 14 motors, two DUI cars. We are slotted for 20 motors and four DUI cars. We have two sergeants and one lieutenant. A little top heavy if you ask me. : )

We have gone back and forth with our supervisors over this same issue. A year ago we were told to assist patrol when possible with taking accidents and backing up patrol officers on calls if we were available. At that time, tickets were not the focus, but visibility was.

Now, our mission has changed and tickets are the focus. No more backup, very little accidents. That being said, my supervisor believes that 10 tickets in our 11 hour shift should be easy for anyone to attain. I agree as long as you don't have any other responsibilities, i.e. collision invests, special assignments, or Friday-itis.

[ryker]

I looked up some stats on a few officers for last month. in 15 day of 12hr shifts the average seams to be a total of less than 10 tickets per month. So have less than 5.

[ditchdiver56]

I'm a member of a 5 man traffic unit in NC, about 45,000 residents, 90 or so sworn. We can write as many tickets as we want, however they are more interested in solving problems than the #s. To be honest, I average around 4 tickets a day. sometimes more, sometimes less. It just depends.

It was higher, but politics have us staying away from the interstate right now.