Wednesday, July 14, 2010

AJC: DeKalb Officers Push Ticket Furlough

You may get out of a traffic ticket in DeKalb County.

Some DeKalb County police officers are organizing a ticket furlough to protest their unpaid holidays. Officers, who are promoting the protest on a police officers' blog, said they are issuing more warnings for speeding and other violations.

In February, the county commission voted to stop paying employees on seven holidays as part of budget cuts. Most employees get the unpaid day off, but some police officers and other public safety workers must still work the holidays.

“We just get a reduction in that week’s check,” said Jeff Wiggs, president of the DeKalb Fraternal Order of Police. “We are continually concerned about reduction in pay and police officer morale.”

Despite being unhappy about the cuts, the FOP told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution they do not support the ticket furlough.

“We’re not advocating a ticket slowdown,” said Wiggs, a master police officer with DeKalb. “But due to less officers, there are times in the day where we have less time to do enforcement because of the call volume.”

Wiggs said the FOP has received dozens of complaints from officers about the pay reduction.

DeKalb officials said they were unaware of the ticket furlough and have not seen a decline in citations issued.

“We are 7 percent above where we were last year at this time,” said Shelia Edwards, a spokeswoman for the county CEO.

From DeKalb Officers: Oh really Ms. "look into the camera" Shelia Edwards. Let's see the comparison next week. Hope you and Burrell are not counting on ticket revenue to pay for those 600 positions that are being refilled.

If you wish to contibute to this article, you can contact:

Megan Matteucci
DeKalb County reporter
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

UPDATE-MY WATCH TOTALS FOR MONDAY AND TUSEDAY....23 TICKETS TOTAL....14 WERE ACCIDENTS....6 WERE ARREST RELEASE...3 ON TRAFFIC STOPS....THANK YOU DRIVE THRU

Anonymous said...

Let's get one thing straight..... IT IS NOT A FURLOUGH IF I AM EXPECTED TO WORK!....

The kicker is the county docked my pay and made me leave my family at home while I worked for a dicounted pay rate!....they docked my pay then said I could take a day in the future.

I never said I wanted to BUY a vacation day!

Anonymous said...

23 in two days.....Is that regular, plain, jane uniform patrol?

I have all the faith in uniform....its the special officer that will screw us....they don't want to mess up the banker's hours or lose the assigned car. The Koolaide drinkers will stand shoulder to shoulder with the white shirts.

Anonymous said...

WENDY GIRL WHERE ARE YOU ?????????

Anonymous said...

Does ANYONE attach ANY credibility to ANYTHING that comes out of Shelia Edwards mouth ????????????

Anonymous said...

"...stand shoulder to shoulder with the white shirts"? Amen to that, brother! You hit the nail on the head.

Anonymous said...

Even though the watch commanders can't stand before roll call and support the ticket furlough, they do support it.

It worked when Derwin Brown was here, and it can work again.

Stand strong as one!

Anonymous said...

Some things never change, Vernon Jones left and Burrell Ellis is here now. The names change but the same people are in charge. They can hire back all these people who retire. Where is this money coming from, wait , I think everyone is instructed to write tickets and generate money for the GENERAL FUND.
This is the show down we have needed for years.

Anonymous said...

I cannot wait until we are threaten at roll call to go write tickets.

I guess you guys at Tac better increase your productivity.

Hey you have the take home car - free gas and vehicle to go back and forth to work.

How many Tac officers live in the county is probably zero.

Anonymous said...

If you see your co-workers turning in long copies that aren't involved with a 41, you need to speak up and say something to them. This isn't going to work unless we all stick together! Warning tickets for all! There is nothing any supervisor can do to you for only writing warning tickets!

Anonymous said...

Why are we still dealing with the loon Sheila Edwards? Is this the best you can do Mr. CEO? You need to show some leadership and cut this idiot before she drags you all the way to the bottom. Do you have any idea what the rest of the DeKalb County employees think of her?

I understand the frustration of the uniform officers and despite what some people will try to tell you, the morale of the department is still pretty low. This is particularly true in the uniform division. Officers are upset about the unpaid holidays and they are just reacting out of frustration. This is understandable but the lack of funds is hardly unique to DeKalb County. Cities, counties and states all over the country are in very similar circumstances. Many are worse off than DeKalb County financially.

I think the overriding factor in the low morale of the uniform officer is the things that happen in our everyday life. Yeah, we are mad about the money but the thing that really hurts is the poor leadership that we have to endure everyday!

I am in no position to talk to Chief O’Brien, but if I had the opportunity I would tell him that the Assistant Chief he has in place over uniform is absolutely horrible and he is doing far more to destroy morale than the unpaid holidays. He is an arrogant know it all and he talks to his subordinates like they were dogs. I understand that there are times when you have to put your foot down in this occupation and just chew someone’s ass but there should be more positive than negative. You would never act like this Chief O’Brien. So why do you allow someone under your command to act this way?

Anonymous said...

Why isSheila E. speaking about police related issues? She has no clue! All my traffic stops will be WARNINGS!

Anonymous said...

Someone told me the chief is attending the FBI academy, lets hope he gets back soon and learned some good stuff and new ideas. It is time for the chief to lead and bring some new ideas and vitality to the force, and somehow stand up for you guys on the unpaid work-holidays for the officers. This is a touchy subject, the reason Vernon brought in Bolton was because Mr. CEO wanted a yes-man more than a good chief. I was totally stunned to hear that Ellis appointed O'Brien due to O'Brien's race, enough said about that. Its starting to look like Director Miller is the appointed yes-man to the CEO.
Best of luck, mates!

Anonymous said...

Things could be worse. You could be one of the two crime scene investigators left in the county.

Anonymous said...

dkpd officers are writing long tickets like crazy. i guess being screwed by the county doesn't affect police anymore.

Sara Palin bush said...

can we have a news letter or even a roll call video. the troops need to hear from our leaders,where are we going from here. New direction? new mission? new ideas? Padrick and Chief are very intelligent I know that they are not sitting on their hands. We are counting on you Chief. You were put in this position because you have what it takes.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure a ticket furlough is the answer..The county is broke boys and girls. We may win the battle with a ticket furlough but lose the war. Just read an article about a major police dept., with one of the highest crime rates in America laying off 10 percent of the force..That came out to 80 officers layed off. I'm a supervisor and will never tell anyone to write a long copy. That is your discretion.. But just be careful, this money issue gets worse some of us may be losing our job, and it's LOW pay! The elected ones will do what ever it takes to LOOK good in the public eye, while lining their pockets. If it's at the expense of a few officers so be it. You think they give a damn?

Anonymous said...

Well....I just gave all the bill collectors my new address and new phone number to the BOC address down in Decatur...and my phone number straight to Mr Ellis's office. Told the collectors that someone may say not to call there....but I told them it was okay to keep calling till I was able to answer the phone....they said okay....please understand that this call is recordered for any debt to collect.....yup..and here's my new number. Lets see how downtown likes it for awhile...heheheh

Anonymous said...

Obrien should have gone to the FBI academy 10 years ago. He needs to be right here right now leading us
This place is in turmoil...............agin

Anonymous said...

I wonder how well this will go over at east where Castro is running things. Fill sorry for those officer's over there. Hang in there guys...

Optimus Prime said...

Everyone who is eligible should push to go to CID...no tickets to write, no calls to hump and plenty of overtime.

Anonymous said...

It will just be put back on the supervisors as usual. Pulling individual stats then write ups for low productivity standard etc. The ironic part of all of it is there really is no supervision on the streets as we are all in the office doing pointless paperwork or handling unwarranted complaints. I'm sure that will come to an end when the upper brass starts getting their share of lawsuits because of poor training and decisions made in the field. A taser incident takes an entire shift to complete if you can track down a taser software cable before ridiculous kickbacks are returned for editing, again reducing actual supervision or guidance.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone other than the Obrien Fan Club actually think he will make Chief?

Anonymous said...

I hear TRT is going to get hazard pay, since they are the new strike force!

Anonymous said...

Tell me again what TRT does that your everyday POII doesn't do?

Anonymous said...

"SOUNDS LIKE YOU GUYS NEED A UNION"

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry for them TRT guys, they are over worked,no perks and it is hot out there. They make more noise then some of the net teams.

Anonymous said...

sounds like theres some old , disgruntle, negative and time to retire or get transfer to another precinct where u don't live in supervisors in this department.

Everyone knows who you are!!!! you do more damage than help. you talk about everyone and under mind the command staff. We will never move forward with attitudes like yours and your buddies.

Anonymous said...

"Tell me again what TRT does that your everyday POII doesn't do?"

Stop for lunch without worrying about dispatched calls....

Jump dispatched calls that result in a quick, easy felony J1 (ie.. 76in progress at the bank.)...

Take regular coffee and bathroom breaks at QT....

I better stop before I get on a roll.....

Anonymous said...

"sounds like theres some old , disgruntle, negative and time to retire or get transfer to another precinct where u don't live in supervisors in this department."

You sound like a rookie full of piss and vinegar that speaks before listening and learning.

That badge you wear was earned in the ACADEMY... not the street.

This department is a shadow of what it was.