Lawsuit over police ticket quotas settled
Update March 13, 2014: An unexpected settlement was reached Thursday in a lawsuit brought against the city by a police officer who accused his police department of requiring traffic ticket quotas and then retaliating against him after he complained.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed by either side and came at recess after opening statements began Thursday in Superior Court, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reports.
Before the settlement was reached, those expected to testify included former Paso Robles police Chief Lisa Solomon, current Chief Robert Burton, city manager Jim App, and dozens of current and former police officers and administrators.
Original story March 12, 2014: Opening arguments were set begin Wednesday in a lawsuit that claims there was a quota system for officers to issue traffic citations to drivers in Paso Robles.
Former Paso Robles police officer Jon Tatro filed a lawsuit in February 2012 that accuses the police department of instituting a quota system for issuing tickets.
The suit claims that officers received monthly performance reviews with the number of citations they wrote compared to other officers’ averages. Tatro says he received notice that he failed to meet expectations by falling below the average. Tatro resigned from the police department after a 25-year career on the force.
Paso Robles City Manager Jim App on Tuesday told the San Luis Obispo Tribune that he could not comment on the active litigation. The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages and attorney fees.
Read more at the San Luis Obispo Tribune
This is another case where someone does not understand the definition of "Average." By definition about HALF of the participants MUST fall below the "Average." I hope some attorney's don't show their stupidity and claim that EVERYONE must be above the "average."
Not necessarily true. Since the average is the sum divided by the number of cops, ideally, the average and any given persons number of citations would be the same.
does it seem odd that its not about obeying the law but about performance quotas and money.
After Tatro’s attorney announced in his opening statement that he had documentation to prove that Jim App and Lisa Solomon conspired between them to use traffic quotas to raise money for the city, the city, in an unprecedented move, decided to settle the case after one morning of trial.
Not only is this an admission of guilt on the part of the city, but they wasted taxpayer money on attorney fees for a case that they could not defend.
So they violated California state law which specifically outlaws traffic quotas, and then left a paper trail because…we had two arrogant and stupid Paso employees.
Solomon is gone, but our city manager is still with us. How many residents received strange traffic tickets like the ones on Vine Street for not waiting so many seconds after stopping at a stop sign before proceeding through the intersection? Or for cutting off a police car in changing lanes when it was the police car that suddenly speeded up behind you?
So, now we wait for personnel action concerning our City Manager, Jim App.
This is another case where someone does not understand the definition of "Average." By definition about HALF of the participants MUST fall below the "Average." I hope some attorney's don't show their stupidity and claim that EVERYONE must be above the "average."
Not necessarily true. Since the average is the sum divided by the number of cops, ideally, the average and any given persons number of citations would be the same.
does it seem odd that its not about obeying the law but about performance quotas and money.
After Tatro’s attorney announced in his opening statement that he had documentation to prove that Jim App and Lisa Solomon conspired between them to use traffic quotas to raise money for the city, the city, in an unprecedented move, decided to settle the case after one morning of trial.
Not only is this an admission of guilt on the part of the city, but they wasted taxpayer money on attorney fees for a case that they could not defend.
So they violated California state law which specifically outlaws traffic quotas, and then left a paper trail because…we had two arrogant and stupid Paso employees.
Solomon is gone, but our city manager is still with us. How many residents received strange traffic tickets like the ones on Vine Street for not waiting so many seconds after stopping at a stop sign before proceeding through the intersection? Or for cutting off a police car in changing lanes when it was the police car that suddenly speeded up behind you?
So, now we wait for personnel action concerning our City Manager, Jim App.