Thursday, June 25, 2009

5 former employees accused of ticket-fixing

Click here for AJC article

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great job by the detectives and the DA's office. Thanks for everything you do.

Anonymous said...

This is why I am so against traffic citations. We all know its about revenue and the employees knew that, hence their corrupt behavior. I'm not making excuses nor justifying their actions, but hell, looking at the prices of these tickets, I would want a piece of that pie as well.

Today, the AJC ran some photos of one of your officers running radar on 20 near Candler Road, one of the most roughest corridors in the county. I guess making revenue is more important than patrolling the streets.

Holding my breath for a REAL police chief to say, MY JOB IS PUBLIC SAFETY NOT REVENUE GENERATION!! And, why doesnt the department get any funds from tickets. I know officers in Atlanta tell me, they stop doing (unless forced to do so) it once they realized the department was getting little to nothing from the tickets. The officer, whom I known for years used to really think it was about safety as he would only give warnings (unless the driver was a smartass) until he was told, his tickets were not profitable for the city.

Anonymous said...

The officers running laser are in the unit that handles traffic issues. They aren't the drug unit.

Just the other day people were complaining officers aren't working the interstates enough. Today, they took part in a state wide effort to curtail speeding. What happens?? Someone complains!!

No matter what the police do, someone wants to complain. "You should be doing this, not that." When they do "this" some else complains!

Anonymous said...

I am a long time resident, and I expect our county police officers to issue speeding tickets. Drivers need to slow down for the safety of other drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists. I'm sorry that some officers ignorately feel it's about "revenue". It's aprt of your job, so get it done.

Slamin Ethel said...

Traffic enforcement is a part of being a POLICE OFFICER idiots.
Do your job! we cant help what happens to the citation once it has left our hands, just do your part in making society a safer place.

People running 80,90,100mph pass me daily and jeopordize my life and childrens life everyday with no regard for the aftermath that they will cause.

Yes we have to write tickets to get people's attetion.
Rock on Chief O'Brien!

Better DeKalb said...

Anyone who is speeding or committing any other moving violation deserves a ticket, including me.

DKPD: Write those tickets to generate revenue and make people more cautious drivers.

Recorders Court: Process those tickets in a timely manner.

Seems so simple.

Thanks again to the pressure this blog applies to help hold people accountable in our County. 5 people, surely more to come.

Anonymous said...

Ok, now I see everyone wants to have wet dreams and write tickets. Isn't this the same department that was bitching to CBS46 about the two ticket per shift quota? Isn't this the same department that was outraged about officers running radar when calls were backed up? Now, all of a sudden, we are pro lets write more tickets. Please pick a side and stay on it. I used to love reading this blog but it seems like it is becoming more like high school with the cliquish and gossip style topics and conversations that are going on here. I understand a blog is not a news outlet but lets work on keeping the focus at hand---discussing issues facing DKPD and its Citizens not why I hate my supervisor because of this, why I dont get nights and weekends off and so on type of rants.

What i'm starting to see alot of is this "me too" attitude from this department. Gwinnett writes a bunch of tickets, why aren't we doing it? APD gets this, why can't we have it? Is this site full of rookies or a bunch of old farts in blue who are mad they have yet to get promoted

Anonymous said...

Traffic and speed enforcement have gotten slack around GA for the last 20 years.
On the other hand, vehicles and technology have drastically increased safety of our vehicles and should be accounted for by our traffic laws. In medium traffic, if you maintain your distance or interval between vehicles, you can safely cruise at 85. I do it daily in my county van, which is a marvel considering that it is a lowly utility van.
We need to raise speed limits on our highways to a reasonable level that the citizens can abide with safely.
Because our speed limits are so low and nearly everyone speeds, it is difficult for a cop to justify to themselve that giving a ticket for driving 10 mph above the speed limit on 285 is reasonable.
The latest "super-speeder" law enacted by Gov. Perdue only reinforces the theory that traffic citations are being used as a source of revenue rather than enforcing traffic safety. The "super-speeder" law was designed with only intention. Produce revenue for rural trauma centers, a worthy cause but none the less reinforces that traffic enforcement is a revenue enhancer and does not contribute to traffic safety.

Anonymous said...

Dude, LowFlyer, if you are going 85mph on 285 you are going to fast. Especially in a van. Just because you think you are a good driver doesnt mean that you are...

Anonymous said...

When I used to supervise and train DeKalb County Police Officers several years ago I always tried to show them that you can make one traffic stop instead of several and do more good. Why stop the guy that is just speeding when you can stop the guy thats speeding, using no signal to change lanes, and has a broken windshield. Usually you will find that they also have bald tires, no insurance, probably no license or a suspended/revoked license and sometimes an outstanding warrant for thier arrest.
Now use common sense and tell me which traffic stop would do more good. The problem is that the job became more about visibility and public opinion than about really making a difference in the past several years. We used to be a department that was "pro-active" and actively looked for crime. Under the administration of the past several years (Levitan, Vernon Jones, Graham, Tebo.....the wasted decade and a half or more) being a pro-active police officer got you punished, and thrown under the train be the depatrment. The criminals within the department made our job impossible to do. Now, it appears, DeKalb is trying to be more about substance and not so much about appearances. BUT, until they can boot the criminals put in place (by the appointed and elected criminals) it will be an uphill fight.
Some of us grew up in DeKalb decades ago and remember the great place it used to be and tried really hard for a long time to keep the criminals from taking over. We lost that battle. Maybe we wont loose the war.
Some of us are not bitter as has been implied, we just moved on.

Still trying to clean the fresh tracks off my back.... said...

Anonymous said... "Under the administration of the past several years (Levitan, Vernon Jones, Graham, Tebo.....the wasted decade and a half or more) being a pro-active police officer got you punished, and thrown under the train be the depatrment."

Trust me....I can tell you from experience that the tossing under the bus is still being practiced. If you don't play their unprofessional and at times unethical little games, you'll find yourself on the short end of the stick.

Chief O'Brien is somewhat in place, but the people who carry out the orders and crack the whips on a daily basis are STILL the same. They, not O'Brien, run the department.

Some, not all, do what they want and protect those who do things that they would not want to see on the evening news. If only Acting Chief O'Brien had the ability to know everything.

Maybe Don Frank's move is a harbinger of things to come.

I'm glad O'Brien is in place...what we need though is a command staff that was made out of the same batch of molds that he came from....One that places a high value on standards, ethics, professionalism and a focus on service to the community instead of a focus on entitlement and perks.

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