No free toasters for officers who issue traffic tickets

Last month started off great with National Night Out, and we were able to visit 86 neighborhood parties.

August continued on to our monthly presentation of “411 with 911.” Sgt. Eric Versteeg, who is an auxiliary motor officer, discussed traffic safety. He spoke about some of the rules of the road, covering everything from right-of-way violations and speeding, to who is required to wear a bicycle helmet.

We currently have three active auxiliary motor officers — including Sgt. Versteeg — who work traffic enforcement on motorcycles in addition to their other duties. In addition to our motor officers, we have two-part time traffic enforcement officers, officers working federally funded traffic-specific overtime, and officers from the Special Enforcement Team, working traffic enforcement.

Some have asked why so many types of officers are working traffic enforcement, and why are officers so strict. I have heard everything from, “You are just being mean” and “You are just meeting your quota” to “You are trying to make money for the city.” I have even been asked if I get a free toaster for writing so many tickets!

The truth is that we do not want to be mean to you. We do not have a quota. The city actually makes very little money from citations, and officers do not get any rewards for the amount of tickets we write.

We write tickets for three main reasons.

The first one is that it is part of our job to enforce the laws. Whether you agree with them or not, the vehicle code is a set of rules for everyone to follow.

The second reason is that our city has a high number of collisions for our size. You might ask how tickets relate to traffic accidents. One of our retired motor officers conducted a survey in Lodi and found that the fewer citations that police officers in Lodi write, the higher number of traffic collision we have.

We are actively enforcing traffic laws that prevent those collisions, and statistics have shown it helps to keep Lodi safer when we write more citations.

Finally, traffic is one of the biggest complaints that we get from the community. Over the course of my career, traffic complaints have always been one of the top things that the citizens of Lodi have expressed their concern with.

I want you to know that we do hear you and take your complaints and concerns seriously. This is one of the most important reasons why we work traffic enforcement. We want to improve everyone’s quality of life and make the community feel safe and secure.

The Lodi Police Department will continue to partner with the Lodi Public Library to discuss topics like this with the community. These meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month.

Our next meeting will be held on Oct. 5. The topic will be child safety and “stranger danger.”

Sgt. Kevin Kent and the Lodi Police Department have partnered with the Lodi Public Library to host 411 With 911, a monthly workshop open to the community that shares information about the police department and crime.