Payback!

One commenter (The Truth) in a recent article referred to the reasoning behind a $125 ticket for failing to signal a right turn within 100' of an intersection. The writer called it "payback", and he hit the nail on the head.

This is the way that a cop can "get even" with somebody. And he can do it in a way that bears the semblance of legality because, after all, a violation did occur.

The current poll on tickets/warnings in Woodstock indicates that the last time they got stopped in Woodstock, 75% of the drivers got warnings. It will be interesting to inspect the statistics at the Woodstock Police Department in the next week or so, as soon as my FOIA Request to inspect public records is approved.

Two years ago, when I got stopped for a headlight that had been out for 15 minutes, I was informed that I'd be issued a warning. Then a second officer showed up, and then the first officer changed his mind. Now, why would that happen? What did the second officer say to the first officer that caused him to change his mind? And who wrote me the failure-to-signal ticket? This very same "second officer."

Wouldn't it be interesting to know? Looking back, it's too bad that I didn't take it to trial, as I had threatened. Would Officers 1 and 2 have told the truth about why Officer No. 1 changed his mind? But the headlight had been out. I knew exactly where it had gone out (mileage and time), because I was having frequent headlight problems that the repair shop couldn't get fixed. And every burned-out headlight had been repaired the next day.

Chief Lowen has a "broken window" theory, which is a well-known theory in law enforcement. But I don't hear the cops complaining that he is making them do more work to keep Woodstock nice. But just let a citizen call attention to "broken windows". Not a good idea in Woodstock, because then you get a reputation. And when you get a reputation? Payback!

So, do I think The Truth was right? Absolutely.

Open Letter to Woodstock City Council - Traffic

Following is an open letter that I have emailed this morning to the Woodstock mayor and members of the City Council:

Mr. Mayor and Members of the City Council,

Please read the Car and Driver article published on msn.com at http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=948333&topart=luxury This describes the exact issue that I raised at the recent City Council meeting.

What knowledge do you have of the decision of Chief Lowen to drastically increase the number of traffic tickets being issued by his officers through "traffic initiatives"? "Other traffic arrests" were up 51% from January 2009 to February 2009.

Was Chief Lowen ordered by the City Manager to pursue this risky plan? Did the Council order the City Manager to increase revenues by traffic ticket enforcement?

Are you getting (or should you be getting) reports, perhaps weekly, on the number of traffic tickets being issued for all traffic violations, not just the broad category of "Other traffic arrests"?

Have we developed a "speed trap" mentality here, but more broadly applied to all traffic violations, not just speeding?

Have officers been ordered to ticket only and ordered not to exercise discretion to issue warnings where warranted?

If a police officer commits a traffic violation, will another officer cite him?

How much revenue is being forecast?

Will traffic tickets be heard in the new Administrative Adjudication Court being established in Woodstock?

I shall approach you in person at a City Council meeting with these questions and trust that answers will be provided.

Respectfully,

Gus Philpott

Woodstock PD - bringing in the big bucks

What's happening within the Woodstock Police Department?

Every month the Chief Lowen makes a report to the City Council. You can read it in the packet that goes to each member of the City Council for the first City Council meeting of the month. If you go to the Library or City Hall, it's there on the Friday before the first Tuesday of the month. If you go to the Library, go to the Reference Desk on the first floor, in the back, and ask for it. You can't check it out, but you can read it there.

General information is sometimes helpful. Raw numbers can be interesting. What really tells the story, though, is the comparison of numbers - the percentage, or the percentage difference.

For example, when January 2009 calls for service are compared to December 2008, there were 105 fewer calls in January. The decrease is 6.8%. Of course, a decline for one month can be off-set by a huge jump in another month.

How about tavern checks: 277 in January, compared to 191 in January. That's a 45% increase. Why? Which taverns are being clobbered with police attention? I wonder what the tavern owners think.

DUIs? Only three in January; none in February. No DUI arrests? Did all the drunks stop driving in January and February? Maybe the increase in tavern checks reduced the number of drunk drivers. But what about all the drunk drivers passing through?

There is a general category of "Other traffic arrests". In December 239 traffic arrests were made; in January, 362! What could account for a 51.5% increase? And this was before the February "initiative" (crackdown) on aggressive and dangerous drivers was announced.

And lowly parking tickets? After slacking off in December and issuing only 160, the troops got busy in January and issued 270; that's a 68.8% increase! Where did they find 270 parking violators in Woodstock? Seeing a grid of locations and times would be interesting.

And the fines for parking violations? $3,625 in December, but only $3,090 in January. A 68% increase in the number of tickets, but a 15% drop in fines. The average fine for a parking ticket in December was $22.66. The average fine for a parking ticket in January was $11.44. Most likely, a two-month period is too short for a valid comparison, due to timing of tickets issued and when they were paid. Maybe fines lag issuance by a month. It does kind of make me wonder about the type of parking ticket issued in January.

Stolen property in December? $24,413. In January, $65,021 - a 166.3% increase! I'll skip the low recovery rate on stolen property.

From the 51% increase in "Other traffic arrests" it appears that the Police Department is becoming a funds generating entity, a money-making department, a profit center for the City of Woodstock. Just what we need; right? Who will be first to order a new license plate: BOUNTY.

I wonder if the City Council is aware of the movement of the police department into a revenue-generation scheme. Or did it direct that movement? Ticket quotas are illegal but, if a beat officer happened to be required to write seven (7) $75.00 tickets on his shift, that's a total of $525 in fines and well over $1,000 in potential court costs, if the drivers go to court and lose. Most drivers will just fork over the $75.00, as I did two years ago, and not take a chance in court - and not take a day off without pay to go to court and fight the ticket.

Think the cops don't have this figured out already? But it's not the street cops, the beat cops, who are making the rules. I'll bet they don't like quotas. I'll bet they even know that ticket quotas are illegal. But how do you argue with your sergeant? If he tells you that your quota is seven, then you'd better not come back in without those seven. Better keep your personal journal up-to-date with who ordered what, and when.

And how about an officer who is detailed to a traffic assignment? All he is supposed to do is write traffic tickets. Let's say he just happened to have a quota is ten (10) tickets on his shift. And let's say he is more aggressive than just writing tickets for failing to use a turn signal in a demand turn lane. He gets busy and writes a few for illegal use of the center, two-way, left-turn lane, grabs one every once in a while for running a red light, gets a speeder occasionally. Maybe his average fine is $100. Ten $100 tickets equal $1,000 in fines, and another potential $1,500 in court costs if they all go to court (which they won't).

So three beat officers (3 x $525) and one traffic car ($1,000) = $2,575/day in fines. Figuring 30 days in a month, that's $77,250/month, and that's $927,000 in a year. Give or take a few $$$. And this is not including court costs!

How much of that filters back to Woodstock from McHenry County Traffic Court? And how much will stay here if a bunch of those are written under Local Ordinances and adjudicated in Woodstock's new Court that was approved at the March 3rd City Council meeting?

Do officers still have discretion to issue a Warning? Or are they now required to issue a ticket on every traffic stop? There's a good way to find out. A FOIA Request should obtain accurate information. Let's see.... how about 1) How many traffic stops were made last month? 2) How many tickets were written? 3) How many written Warnings were issued? Better yet - how about those numbers on a monthly basis for the past 6-12 months?

Has something changed recently at the Woodstock PD?