Probe finds flawed state police incentives

The findings that state police troopers fabricated tickets and stops to artificially enhance their productivity statistics should be troubling to everyone in Connecticut. We count on police officers to keep the state safe, not to fake their way through their days by impressing their superiors to earn special perks.

It’s not just that the rules should apply equally to everyone, it’s that those who we trust to enforce the law should be held to an even higher standard.

The issue centers on State Police Troop E in Montville, where troopers were found to have earned special perks, including better vehicles, thanks to their unusually productive records. As it turned out, hundreds of the tickets they had supposedly passed out were simply faked. The stops never happened, even as they were entered into State Police computers.

One trooper told investigators the fake tickets came from “creating what he called ‘ghost stops’ to increase his statistics and appear as if he was being a productive trooper, while in fact he was not doing much work at all.”

The punishments meted out in response were less than overwhelming. One trooper received a 10-day suspension, another a two-day suspension and two other troopers retired rather than face repercussions.

The problems with such transgressions are obvious. We can’t have troopers faking tickets. But it also speaks to a twisted incentive structure and questionable priorities by all parties. The way rewards are handed out to “productive” troopers demands a second look.

State police employ metrics just like any employer. There has to be a way to keep track of what people are doing. But ideally, troopers would not be rewarded simply for giving out more tickets. They’d be rewarded for keeping people safe. They’re not the same thing.

If, hypothetically speaking, no one is speeding or breaking any traffic laws during a trooper’s shift, we wouldn’t want that trooper to feel like he or she needs to hand out tickets anyway. That’s not what the job is supposed to be about. But by incentivizing stops and summonses, state police are creating more situations where police and the public will interact.

We know that in some circumstances, the result of such encounters can be tragic.

Most interactions between the police and the public occur without incident. But simply by virtue of initiating contact, the chance for escalation is introduced. We should not want the police to increase the chances that a situation will escalate beyond their control. By putting incentives on the number of stops and the number of tickets given out, we’re creating just such a scenario.

It’s easy to be dismissive of the smaller picture here. Some troopers cut some corners, just like workers in offices all around the country cut some corners every day. They got some perks, but no one was hurt. They were found out and punished, though not all that severely.

But the bigger picture demands a closer look. The job of a state police trooper must not be to stop people and give out tickets for the purpose of earning rewards. It must be to keep people safe. Everyone involved needs to remember the distinction.

Troopers should not be rewarded simply for giving out more tickets. They should be rewarded for keeping people safe. They’re not the same thing.