Quota? What quota?

[MSTRS:Me]

... focus on ... ticket quality.

Good idea. I've seen some that even a pharmacist couldn't read...

[dangerous]

Quota? What quota?

THIS Quota no, not that Quota... ohh sorry, ok Ill go back were I came from

[The Stranger:Me]

In several surveys 90% of drivers consider themselves to be better drivers than the average
Anecdotal experience would suggest the above opinions are grossly incorrect. Then there is the question of maths

I would have thought those figures to be accurate and more a reflection of poor survey methodology.
How does one define a good driver? I'm sure that there are some traits we will all agree on, but I'm also sure there will be many things some will consider more important than others. Without a good definition it is up to the individual to assess against their own yard stick - which incidentally is how they drive.

[The Stranger:Me]

Taking it off on a tangent... I do believe that's how we get the bad driving. Oh, there's no-one around, I don't need to indicate. That progresses over time to, oh, there's no-one in my immediate vicinity, no need to indicate (perhaps a blind spot catches them out now and then). Eventually turns into the habit of not bothering to indicate.

Gets as far as I almost got taken out when a guy didn't indicate. Next light, I got off the bike and spoke to him. Of course, he said he didn't see me, and I replied, it doesn't matter, just indicate, so you let others know your intentions. Right after the light, he failed to indicate a lane change.

Good luck with your crusade.

Chocolate mud cake. Yum.

Agreed.
THE most important reason to indicate is for those you don't see.

[The Stranger:Me]

Are you the low hanging fruit?

You got it in one. The problem with a quota is that it encourages blind compliance, wherein the troops focus on ticket numbers instead of ticket quality.

If I told my troops that they had to write 20 tickets each day, they'd go out and write the 20 easiest tickets they could find. It's human nature. If there's a target, people try to hit it.

What matters is the quality of work. For the record, there are measures of the category of tickets people write. Per example, I can check how many seatbelt tickets, or how many stop sign tickets my troops write. I could also check how many vehicle licensing tickets they write, but at my level, nobody ever does that check. It's basically by-catch, you know, the ones you get when you are looking for other ones. Like fishing. Stop enough people for breath testing, evenetually you'll find someone with an expired license label.

So, please moan about the real issue, the quality of the work. You're missing the point by grizzling about the quantity.

That said, I regard lots of things as quality that maybe you don't. Red lights, quality. No question. Orange lights, huge deterrent factor, quality. Seatbelts, quality.

Turning into the wrong lane? Depends. If someone gets cut off, quality. If not, maybe not. It's quite subjective. A purest would say that turning into the wrong lane is a fundamental driving error that pisses people off, others would say that if nobody else is around, what harm is done? Not indicating is the same. It cheeses us all off, but people who don't indicate either think they did, or don't think it's worth a $150 ticket.

Thing is, driving is a habit. If we see someone do something dumb and nobody is effected, should we ignore it? I think not, as it we allow a driving error to become habit, one day that habit will take someone out.

Just my frustrated thoughts.

Donuts. So there.

I still find it interesting that the yanks can see the folly of the quota system - and have the nouse to see straight through any hair splitting weasel name for it.

I also know that having managed building sites with up to 200 guys on them, you know from experience if someone is pulling their weight or not. I had no need to institute performance indicators, quotas or reporting.
Would it really take you long to figure out if plod is only issuing one ticket per day that he needs some attention without the use of a quota?
If so, it's damn poor reflection on his supervisor.

[Smifffy]

Agreed.
THE most important reason to indicate is for those you don't see.

...and stop shifting other people's bikes without permission eh?

[scumdog]

Whut?
I think 99.9% of motorists behave very well on the road.

And 90% of them will tell you the same...

[scumdog]

Police receive approximately 21% of their annual funding through the gubbermint land transport fund.

Police spend less than 21% of their total funding on road policing.

Ergo, land transpoprt funding is subsidising the police functions, and if removed, would see a marked decrease in overall policing, not just road policing.

So there.

THAT is not what they want to read on KB.


Too much fact and not enough emotional ranting clap-trap.

[The Stranger:Me]

As a taxpayer and road-user I would expect police to provide a return for the funding they receive for road specific outputs.

Yes, good idea.
The Police also recieve funding for solving all manner of crimes. Perhaps the great unwashed masses would be more accepting of the performance indicator system if only the Police shifted focus to the performance indicator requirements that are currently in place for solving burglaries, rapes, assults and murders?

As a taxpayer and road-user I would expect police to provide a return for the funding they receive for these issues too.

Or is it only traffic Police that are want to skive off parked asleep under a tree all day?

[rastuscat]

I also know that having managed building sites with up to 200 guys on them, you know from experience if someone is pulling their weight or not. I had no need to institute performance indicators, quotas or reporting.

I challenge anyone to provide me with the figure that my staff have to write each day. Nobody can do it, as nobody has told me how many are expected.

Each day my troops write tickets, and submit their copies to my in-tray. I check them, and forward them to the system. That means I know how many each person is writing. I also know how many arrests each person makes, how many cars they impound from disqualified drivers, how many crashes they attend. I'm no different from you, I can tell who is and isn't working. Some of my troops lock more crooks up, some write more seatbelt tickets.

I also know who has lost a house in the earthquake, who has kids acting up, who is getting bogged down in paperwork. I'm the boss, but I'm also the friend who tries to protect them from the shit coming from the management and the public.

Each individual is different, but most on KB just lump them as revenue collecting bas****s, and think that their individual traffic stop for something they are innocent of is the greatest injustice ever visited upon man. Meanwhile, the cop believes that they have been looking for someone who breaks the rules, and that the person they have dealt with has done exactly what they are accused of. Hard to believe it is the same thing they each see from different points of view.

Just venting. Harumph.

[The Stranger:Me]

Hard to believe it is the same thing they each see from different points of view.

Not really, wars are fought and millions have died on simply different points of view. That's not happened yet in traffic policing so I guess it can't be too bad.

[cheshirecat]

Each day my troops write tickets, and submit their copies to my in-tray.

And I thought your intray was just for donuts

[Spearfish]

Just venting. Harumph.

So what bike have you decided on?


Its been posted before but.......
This article was written by a cop who was killed in the line of duty two months later.



Well, Mr. Citizen, it seems you've figured me out. I seem to fit neatly into the category where you've placed me. I'm stereotyped, standardized, characterize, classified, grouped, and always typical. Unfortunately, the reverse is true I can never figure you out. From birth you teach your children that I'm the bogeyman, then you're shocked when they identify with my traditional enemy... The Criminal!

You accuse me of coddling criminals......Until I catch your kids doing wrong. You may take an hour for lunch and several coffee breaks each day, but point me out as a loafer for having one cup. You pride yourself on your manners, but think nothing of disrupting my meals with your troubles.

You raise hell with the guy who cuts you off in traffic, but let me catch you doing the same thing and I'm picking on you. You know all the traffic laws...but you've never gotten a single ticket you deserve. You shout "Foul!" if you observe me driving fast to a call, but raise the roof if I take more than ten seconds to respond to your complaint. You call it part of my job if someone strikes me, but call it police brutality if I strike back.

You wouldn't think of telling your dentist how to pull a tooth or your doctor how to take out an appendix, yet you're always willing to give me pointers on the law. You talk to me in a manner that would get you a bloody nose form anyone else, but expect me to take it without batting an eye. You yell something's got to be done to fight crime, but you can't be bothered to get involved.

You have no use for me at all, but of course it's OK if I change a flat for your wife, deliver your child in the back of the patrol car, or perhaps save your son's life with mouth to mouth breathing, or work many hours overtime looking for your lost daughter.

So, Mr. Citizen, you can stand there on your soapbox and rant and rave about the way I do my work, calling me every name in the book, but never stop to think that your property, family, or maybe even your life depends on me or one of my buddies.

Yes, Mr. Citizen, it's me... the lousy cop!

[superman]

Each individual is different, but most on KB just lump them as revenue collecting bas****s, and think that their individual traffic stop for something they are innocent of is the greatest injustice ever visited upon man. Meanwhile, the cop believes that they have been looking for someone who breaks the rules, and that the person they have dealt with has done exactly what they are accused of. Hard to believe it is the same thing they each see from different points of view.

Just venting. Harumph.

If you can show me how me going 4km/h over an open road limit on a straight costs tax payers $80 I'd happily pay and not complain.

[rastuscat]

And I thought your intray was just for donuts

Yeah, but my troops keep putting bloody paperwork in it.........