Officers To Give Warning First, Tickets 2nd
Performance of Police Officers Now Based on Ticket Quota.
07/22/02
In order to alleviate race based complaints based on unfair traffic stops, City of Coral Springs Police are now following a policy that forces them to issue you a written warning on the first stop, and then if you commit the offense again, they must issue you a ticket. This warning based program obviously comes to light given that the rest of the country is sensitive to the recent goings on of the Los Angeles Police department. Sources within the department have indicated that there has been less than 1 such violation in the last 20 years. This is not a problem in Coral Springs, and probably will never be one.
The Department is now on a Team Track program that places each Coral Springs Police Officer under scrutiny for the effectiveness in handing out tickets and making arrests. Up until now, the police departments policy has been not to establish and quotas and not pressure their over worked under paid officers. BY keeping track of each officers statistics, the department can increase or decrease pay, benefits, awards, bonuses, and make a determination to fire any police officer that doesn’t fit the plan. This new policy shift comes on the wake of decisions being made not to hire any more detectives and to lower the cost of the police department.
Perhaps we are all missing something here. There are several things a city must provide their citizens and the #1 and #2 on the list are the Police protection, and fire rescue. These re the 2 most important departments in our city for they keep us safe. By removing fire stations, (see other article) and not hiring the right amount of police officers, the City Management are in effect putting Coral Springs citizen’s lives at risk.
IT is not that difficult to get a proper handle on this situation. All you have to do is listen in to the Coralsprings.com Scanner broadcasting both the Police and Fire Department channel. By listening to the calls, you will get a great perspective of what the officers and fire fighters are faced with day to day. You can connect with our scanner broadcasts by going to www.coralsprings.com/scanner .
In this day and age, and bearing in mind that the chief terrorist of the World Trade Center disaster, Mohammed Atta, was living here among us, is this the right time to leave the department short of men and long on pressure? I wonder who is recommending these changes, and what the motive behind all this is. Any thoughts?
Comments: editor@www.rfcj.com
Comments:
Thank goodness the Team Track program is like the Hoola Hoop, A passing fad. They are management tools sold by enterprising companies. They probably purchased the Software and log sheets from a pretty sharp company. A company like Cincinnati Microwave, that in the 70’s “sold” every police department in the country a speed radar gun. Then as soon as the contracts were signed, started selling the “fuzzbuster” radar detector to consumers. Good Marketing. Maybe the Team Track company offers Legal services to those caught in the “quota system”. I am a new resident here to Coral Springs and a long time Federal Govt Employee. I have seen programs like this come and go. The quota system will hold up for a while, until someone realizes that “the last of the month” people are getting hammered. I never believed that “monetary” punishments ever accomplished much, since once paid, you forget real fast. And the ones it hurts the most is actually the families of those who can least afford it. I mean, if you fine a person for 5 miles over the speed limit that drives a 60-70 K vehicle, what does he really care, But to a minimum wage earner it’s a burden on the family. Go figure eh? However just by the fact of having the Police visible it deters crime ( on all levels – from jay-Walking to robbery ) Cutting the force or reducing the “per capita” Police / FD numbers is plain wrong. I chose this city for a number of reasons and look forward to living in this wonderful city. I personally know some of the Firefighters and Police Officers here. I know whatever they are faced with their professionalism on a personal level will overcome any adversity caused by the City Management. -G.J
Do the actions of Mr. Levinson really surprise you? Think back a few years. This “manager” is not really a manager at all, he is a magician. The citizens of Coral Springs are paying him more than any other City Manager in the county and possibly in Florida and not providing the protection the residents of Coral Springs deserve and are willing to pay for. And he gets away with it. He will close fire stations; try to make do by utilizing volunteer firefighters and now trying to eliminate staffing within the police department. You are 100 percent correct when you say these are the single most important services the city provides and no one really cares about them until you require their life saving services. Once they arrive at you home or place of business you want the best of the best not some a junior varsity team that will do it for free. But lets stay focused here, the city also employees a Police Chief and a Fire Chief with the technical skills and budgetary skills to make informed decisions. These decisions are not being entertained by the magician and subsequently not being backed by the city commissioners. The reason some of the commissioners (i.e. Rat Pack) do not listen and they take orders from Mr. Levinson. I thought they hire the city manager, guess not. >From my experience with the City of Coral Springs upper Management is like Disney World, what goes on behind the scenes is very different than what you see in the streets — M.R.
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