Quota For Some AL State Troopers?

**Five-0** · 06-14-10, 05:10 PM

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Alabama troopers at Birmingham post instructed to cite more for DUI | al.com

Alabama troopers at Birmingham post instructed to cite more for DUI

Published: Sunday, June 13, 2010, 5:30 AM Updated: Saturday, June 12, 2010, 11:21 PM

Kent Faulk -- The Birmingham News

Alabama State Troopers are out in force for a 10-day blitz, targeting impaired drivers and seat belt violations. (The Birmingham News file)
The number of tickets for DUI written by state police from the Birmingham post doubled in March after a memo from the acting post commander threatened to punish any trooper who did not make at least three DUI arrests by the end of that month.
Trooper officials defended the memo from now-retired Sgt. Steve Bryant and obtained by The Birmingham News. The memo said each trooper should make at least three DUI arrests by the end of March, and that those who failed to do so could lose their day-shift assignments or opportunities for overtime pay.
The Birmingham post made 50 arrests in both January and February, but in March the number jumped to 97, according to data provided by the state troopers. In April there were 91 DUI arrests and 117 in May.
Two lawyers said the memo, sent by e-mail and dated March 4, appeared to be giving troopers an arrest quota. But state trooper officials contend that while it sounded like a quota, troopers don't have quotas and the e-mail was simply a poorly worded attempt to get the highway patrolmen to step up efforts to cut down on impaired drivers.
"Could it have been stated in a better way? Certainly it could have," said Capt. Neil Tew, assistant chief of the highway patrol division.
The e-mail from Bryant went to troopers in the Birmingham post, which includes Blount, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby and Walker counties. It was sent to six corporals. At least one corporal forwarded it to more than three dozen troopers at the post.
"We have closed the books on the second month of the year; many of our folks have one or fewer DUI arrests," according to Bryant's e-mail, "... advise your personnel that anyone with less than three DUI arrests at the close of March will lose their day shifts and/or extra-duty privileges."
Efforts last week to reach Bryant for comment were unsuccessful. Bryant retired in May, but the memo had nothing to do with his decision to retire, Tew and other trooper officials said.
"Initially, this issue is lose-lose for both sides of the table; the trooper on the roadway and the citizens of this area," said Whitney Polson, a DUI defense attorney in Homewood.
"The arrest determination should be based upon facts, not threats of lost pay and time away from the family," Polson said.
Could hamper cases
Polson and another attorney also said they believed the quota in the e-mail could cast doubt on the legitimacy of DUI arrests.
Phillip Price, a Huntsville attorney and author of the legal reference Alabama DUI Handbook, said he believes quotas exist in law enforcement but he had never seen it put in writing like that before.
Tew said that while he hadn't spoken to Bryant about the e-mail, he believes it was Bryant's "absolute intent" to achieve their enforcement goal of stopping impaired driving rather than just having them focus only on speeding.
"I think his intention was absolutely the best," Tew said, adding that there wasn't a mandate from state trooper headquarters in Montgomery to raise the number of arrests at the Birmingham post. He also said he hadn't heard of any complaints from troopers about the e-mail.
No troopers at that post have been reassigned or refused extra duty since the memo was sent, Tew said. Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Martha Earnhardt said she doesn't dispute that the e-mail contributed to the increased DUI arrests.
Earnhardt emphasized the department doesn't have a quota system. She cited highway patrol division policy, which says no trooper will be required to make a prescribed number of arrests.
But supervisors are encouraged to get troopers to perform to a certain level, Earnhardt said.
And the Department of Public Safety doesn't apologize for getting tough on DUI in recent years, Earnhardt said. "Traffic safety is troopers' top priority," she said.
Troopers have been concentrating on cutting the number of traffic fatalities in the state since Col. Chris Murphy became director of the Department of Public Safety in December 2006, Earnhardt said.
Several programs, including Take Back Our Highways and Task Force Zero, were launched to crack down on impaired driving and reduce the number of accidents and fatalities on Alabama roadways, Earnhardt said.

**ISPTI** · 06-14-10, 06:18 PM

Supervisors like that are everybody's best friend!

I think it's safe to say that if something like that were tried here, the "DUI arrests for March" would have been about half what they were in February...

**MacLean** · 06-14-10, 06:21 PM

I'm guessing the Sergeant is discussing the finer points of motivation with the Captain more frequently now.

**Bob Loblaw** · 06-14-10, 06:41 PM

How are you supposed to find three DUIs on dayshift?!?!?!?

**Five-0** · 06-14-10, 07:27 PM

Originally Posted by maclean

I'm guessing the Sergeant is discussing the finer points of motivation with the Captain more frequently now.

He is " recently retired". Also I put a link to this thread in the comments section to this story on al.com. We may have visitors.

**213th** · 06-14-10, 08:02 PM

So wisconsin isn't the only state where DUI is a traffic ticket?

**Five-0** · 06-14-10, 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by 213th

So wisconsin isn't the only state where DUI is a traffic ticket?

It is an arrest that has to have a UTC (uniform traffic citation) issued with it in AL.

**ISPTI** · 06-14-10, 08:42 PM

Originally Posted by 213th

So wisconsin isn't the only state where DUI is a traffic ticket?

They probably cite and release in WI.

Here's your DUI ticket, now drive safe!

**MacLean** · 06-14-10, 11:44 PM

We can cite and release here too, or book. Officer choice.

**Five-0** · 06-14-10, 11:52 PM

Originally Posted by maclean

We can cite and release here too, or book. Officer choice.

Holy liability issues Batman.

**Car 4** · 06-14-10, 11:55 PM

Originally Posted by Bob Loblaw

How are you supposed to find three DUIs on dayshift?!?!?!?

Well, Hell, Bob. One of my deputies once arrested a bus driver in a metro bus for DUI int he middle of the day. How hard can t be?

Car 4

**MacLean** · 06-14-10, 11:55 PM

Originally Posted by Five-0

Holy liability issues Batman.

That's just silly. If I put someone in a cab they are no longer my problem.

If I can't find a responsible to come get their car, it gets impounded.

Booking into the King County Jail costs over $300. Justify booking every DUI at that rate.

**Five-0** · 06-15-10, 12:11 AM

Originally Posted by maclean

That's just silly. If I put someone in a cab they are no longer my problem.

If I can't find a responsible to come get their car, it gets impounded.

Booking into the King County Jail costs over $300. Justify booking every DUI at that rate.

Part of our reason for arrest is that we have to take them for their breath test at the jail. I like your way better though.

**Xiphos** · 06-15-10, 04:18 AM

We don't have quotas. We have "Performance Objectives."

**Motorwaycop** · 06-15-10, 06:32 AM

They were also called "Performance Indicators" here.

Thankfully at the moment we have an enlighted boss who tells ius to caution if we see fit for minor stuff and come down hard on the big stuff.

**213th** · 06-15-10, 08:20 AM

Originally Posted by Five-0

It is an arrest that has to have a UTC (uniform traffic citation) issued with it in AL.

Oh okay. Here first offense is a ticket only. But then again, one of our esteemed state senators has 3 dui's over the past year or so and 5 total. Go figure

**jmur5074** · 06-15-10, 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by 213th

Oh okay. Here first offense is a ticket only. But then again, one of our esteemed state senators has 3 dui's over the past year or so and 5 total. Go figure

You still get arrested for DWI in WI. But the offense isn't criminal. It's punishable by a fine only.

**Jks9199** · 06-15-10, 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by maclean

That's just silly. If I put someone in a cab they are no longer my problem.

If I can't find a responsible to come get their car, it gets impounded.

Booking into the King County Jail costs over $300. Justify booking every DUI at that rate.

We book 'em all, unless they're hospitalized. There was a case a few years back somewhere in New England where the cops take a guy in for DUI. He calls a buddy, who comes and signs for him after the breath test, and he's released. They proceed to reclaim the arrestee's car, and he drives it home... except he doesn't quite make it home. He gets into a crash, still drunk, and kills a sailor. Even if the escape direct liability -- it looks really bad.

As to "quotas'... our patrol guys supposedly have some performance goals, which are assessed in totality with what's going on, like training or dispatch duties. Looking at the large number of goose eggs on the last published stat sheet... I don't think anyone's really looking at 'em or doing anything about it!

**MacLean** · 06-15-10, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by Five-0

Part of our reason for arrest is that we have to take them for their breath test at the jail. I like your way better though.

Oh, they get arrested and taken to the station for BAC.

Then, if they are well behaved, they get a cite and are released to a cab.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, they are not cited and released at the scene of the stop.

**Five-0** · 06-15-10, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by maclean

Oh, they get arrested and taken to the station for BAC.

Then, if they are well behaved, they get a cite and are released to a cab.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, they are not cited and released at the scene of the stop.

I followed you. It gives people incentive to cooperate is what I like about that.