State troopers demand arrest of troop commander for ticket quota

Copcrime pays troopers over $100,000/year salary

Email: Troopers ordered on ticket blitz

"350 tickets ... would be stellar," Lt. says.

05 Apr 2012
Jamie Muro
WTNH TV

NEW HAVEN, CONN. -- An eye-opening state police internal memorandum obtained by News 8 challenges state troopers in one barracks to out-perform their trooper colleagues by writing hundreds of tickets on Friday.

The memo, distributed at Troop I in Bethany and obtained exclusively by News 8, basically lays down the gauntlet and any driver on a state highway is fair game.

•See the memo [.png image]

According to this document, starting tonight at midnight, patrols will be stepped up. The memo from Lt. Anthony Schirillo says in part;

"...we have to issue at least 60 infractions / Misdemeanors each shift for a total of 180 infractions in order to outperform both Troop F and Troop G.

"...One day Troop F issued 301 tickets. Troop G responded by issuing 345 in one day. We can do better...

"I am asking that everyone, myself included, contribute to this effort...

"NOTE if we happen to issue 350 tickets in one day that would be stellar."

News 8 spoke at length with Lt. Paul Vance, spokesman for the Connecticut state police. In response to the allegation that this is a quota system, which the state police union alleges, Lt. Vance said no one is given a quota, this is not a game, they don't do that, and have never done that.

Another memo obtained by News 8 says "The master sergeant and I will buy pizza for the shift with the highest total."

Update: More reaction from Lt. Vance and state police union president Andrew Matthews posted here.

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Trooper's union angry at ticket blitz memo

State police: "This is not a quota" [because that would be a felony]

05 Apr 2012
Bob Wilson
WTNH TV

NEW HAVEN, CONN. -- Connecticut's state police union is angry over a memo, obtained by News 8, that encourages troopers in the Bethany barracks going on a ticketing spree Friday to beat other barracks and win pizza.

The email, from Lt. Anthony Schirillo, challenges troopers to write 350 tickets or more during a 24 hour window starting at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The shift with the most tickets gets pizza, another message said.

•Read the full email

"This is not a joke or a game," State police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said. "It's a troop commanders' attempt to stimulate his personnel to enhance highway safety and this goes on all across the state. You will see enhanced enforcement as we continue along in the spring months."

"Troopers are expected to do their job," union president Andrew Matthews said. "We will do our job, but we don't need to be told we need a certain number of tickets within a specified period of time."

The state police union calls it ticket blitzing -- Connecticut trying to make money off of enforcement.

"And by definition under statute a quota is a specific number of infractions or summonses within a specified period of time and that is what the email said," said Matthews.

Which is illegal under that statute. Lt. Vance says it's not a quota. Rather, it's a way to motivate troopers to enhance highway safety. He says it's something state troopers do every Spring.

"Even last week we had a [Department of Transportation] worker killed on our highways just doing his job," Vance said. "We had troopers down in Bridgeport make two stops of people going over 100 mph. Not only were they motor vehicle stops for speeding, but they resulted in a convicted felon with a gun and another individual with narcotics and narcotics money."

Is the memo motivational or revenue?

"Whether it's motivational or a quota, it's disturbing to us because at a time when the taxpayers are out of work 'cause they're unemployed, or gas is $4 a gallon and unemployment is like around 9%, now is not the time to be just issuing tickets to generate revenue," Matthews said.

"This is not a quota. Troopers have discretion," Vance said.

"There is nothing more difficult for a Connecticut state trooper than to stop a family -- a husband, a wife, a couple of children in the back -- for a motor vehicle violation, and hand that family a $275 ticket for violation of the rules of the road. But we look at that family and hope that we have saved a life, hahaha."