The author of the infamous state police memo offering pizzas to troopers who write the most citations did not intend to set an illegal ticket quota, Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner Reuben F. Bradford said Monday.
Bradford was directed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to look into the matter on Friday, shortly after WTNH-CHannel 8 first disclosed the memo.
“Based on a review of the available facts as well as an explanation provided by [Lt. Anthony Schirillo, the memo's author], it is apparent that there was no intent to implement or set any type of a quota, which are prohibited,” Bradford wrote in a letter to Malloy [pdf] today.
Bradford instead characterized Schirillo’s memo, sent to supervisors in the Bethany state police barracks, as an attempt to establish “suggested goals for his troop for the coming 24-hour shift period.”
“A quota system does not exist within the Division of State Police or any other division within the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection,” Bradford wrote.
On Friday, the day after the memo became public, Malloy said quotas are “not appropriate and are illegal.”
The governor noted that state police do increase enforcement in the spring and pointed out that a state transportation worker was struck and killed by a motorist.
“But again, quotas are not permissible,” he added.
When a television reporter asked if offering pizza for the highest number of tickets was “kind of tacky,” Malloy said yes.
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16 Responses to Public Safety Commissioner Bradford: No Intent To Implement Quotas
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That clears it up. Thanks Gov. Malloy. I knew there was nothing going on here.
I say BS, whether the CT State Police brass want to believe it or not, it WAS a quota.
It may not constitute a ‘quota’ but it does offer troopers a “reward” (i.e. pizza) for doing something that the only “reward” they SHOULD get is their ‘pay check’ and perhaps a “thank you for job well done”!! But “pizza party” IS a reward for doing what it is their job to do.
What’s the difference between a goal and a quota? I guess a few pizzas!
The word on the street is that the idea didn’t come from the Lieutenant from Bethany. The high activity started in Westbrook and the Lieutenant Colonel of Field Operations saw it on the Morning Report and liked the idea. He then contacted or met with his District Majors to have everyone else compete; only 2 out of the 3 Districts initiated his idea.
This is not similar to the other initiatives that Comm. Bradford cited in his letter and began before the tragic fatal accident of the DOT Worker. I think this is more to increase activity due to poor morale. It would be interesting to see the stats over the past 6 months to a year and compare them with similar periods over the past few years; i would wager they’d be much lower.
It’s amazing that the letter to the Governor didn’t accurately reflect what happened and made it seem as though the Lieutenant from Bethany did it all on his own. It will be interesting to see the Union’s comments on the letter to the Governor and also see if the Governor gets to the real bottom of the matter.
Most Lieutenants and Captains are happy now because they will soon be getting thier long awaited raises ($10K to $20K) and the Majors and Lieutenant Colonel’s are waiting for thiers in the near future.
OK, so no one was given a number of tickets to write which, apparently, disqualifies this “contest” from being a “quota”, per se. However, because the end result would be the same as a quota in that troopers are encouraged to write more tickets, it looks to me to be a quota by some other name. Quotas are not supposed to be used because the troopers are placed under pressure to meet or surpass some number of tickets and end up writing tickets which may otherwise have ended in verbal or written warnings at the trooper’s discretion. The reward of pizza will affect different troopers to varying degrees, but even if only one trooper is encouraged to write rather than warn, the application of discretion has been altered and that is why quotas were prohibited in the first place.
really ?has our inteligence just been insulted?
Hey …that’s all well and good but what the readership really wants to know is which barracks got the pizza last week?
The Malloy administration has just reached new heights of hypocrisy. To say that the response is disingenuous is putting it mildly. If Malloy had any cajones, he’d demand an outside investigation. At minimum, ticket data for the last couple of years ought to be turned over to an independent team of statisticians to determine if there is statistical evidence that these kinds of ‘contests’ have been conducted before. Heads ought to roll, but this being “talk tough” Malloy, we know that won’t happen.
All this back peddling and double talk,just admit it this cover up makes them look twice as bad.If it walks like a Duck…
Absolutely,but lying is a way of life for them.
There are no quotas troopers can write as many tickets as they want, unlimited. As long as they have PC.
Bradford for covering up & every other officer involved should be fired. The “Meter Maids on Wheels” have no clue what the laws & rules of Corrupticut even are.
From the information released by the State Police Union, it shows that all three districts are now part of the ticket blitz. The Lieutenant Colonel of Field Operations directed each District Major to conduct similar blitzes at least once a month using all personnel.
Normally, when the State Police conduct such enforcement campaigns, they notify the public first (like in all those Comm. Bradford cited in his letter). This is not only to alert the public of their campaign but to obtain compliance of traffic statutes to enhance public safety. I would hope the Courant would request the statistics from the past years to show the down turn in traffic enforcement over the past six months to a year. If it weren’t about raising enforcement numbers (tickets handed out), it would have been publicized before the campaign started; that’s how you really slow down the motoring public.
The two Lieutenants’, who have gained attention were and are simply following a directive from LTC Corona. I don’t know why Comm. Bradford did not come forward with what the ticket blitz is all about and that it was started by one Lieutenant in Westbrook who motivated his personnel and conducted enforcement with them. Maybe Bradford was just told by the Governor’s Office, just say it’s not a quota and it’ll go away… LTC Corona just took what the Lieutenant from Westbrook did and directed everyone else to do it because of the number of tickets it generated – that’s the bottom line folks; it’s all about the numbers!
The great thing about this country is everyone is free to speak his or her mind whether they have one or not. Everyone one is entitled to his or her opinion- whether it is informed or supported by facts or not.
As long as these freedom prevail I have not fear for our future.
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