Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Frustrated officers say Hillsborough's traffic court has become gridlocked
Traffic cases force police to sit, wait
Frustrated officers say Hillsborough's traffic court has become gridlocked.
By COLLEEN JENKINS AND REBECCA CATALANELLO, Times Staff Writers
Published August 26, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TAMPA - There's a four-letter word that describes Hillsborough County's traffic court these days.
"A mess," Tampa police Chief Stephen Hogue says.
"Just a mess," Chief Judge Manuel Menendez echoes.
The number of traffic tickets has swelled 52 percent in five years, to 272,511 last year. Court dockets are crammed with speeders and red light runners.
Law enforcement leaders and judges have been struggling to find a mutually agreeable remedy. The result has been a gridlock of unhappy uniformed officers, lawyers and citizens at the once-a-week County Court traffic hearings in Courtroom 302.
Thursday's docket, considered light at 454 cases, forced Officer Larry Yeoman to cut his night's sleep short to attend morning court, then kept him away from his South Tampa patrol area for three hours of his late-afternoon shift.
Fellow officers came to court on their day off, racking up guaranteed hours of overtime no matter how long they stayed or whether they even testified.
Most left frustrated
"Please do something for us," begged a deputy who left court after more than two hours.
County Judge Raul "Sonny" Palomino Jr. thought he had the answer.
When he took over traffic court a year ago, he noticed that officers and lawyers often agreed about how a case should be resolved before it ever came before him. So he created a form that allowed the two sides to consent to a plea and get the officer out of court quickly.
Hogue was taken aback when he heard about the plea form this spring.
He supported the quickened pace of the docket but didn't like the idea of his officers recommending that the judge settle for a lesser penalty or no finding of guilt on a traffic charge.
"You're going to write a ticket to somebody, then you're going to say, 'Okay, withhold it?' " Hogue said. "We had no idea this was going on."
On May 30, the police chief issued a memo prohibiting officers from signing plea agreements in traffic court. Then the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office used almost exactly the same language in its own memo June 1, followed by one from the Florida Highway Patrol on June 22.
The edicts prescribed that officers, deputies and troopers "must not be a party to any written plea agreement or orally state in court an opinion as to the appropriate disposition of a traffic case to include withholding adjudication, recommending court costs or any other sanctions. That responsibility rests solely with the presiding judge."
Hogue and sheriff's officials met with Palomino to share their concerns.
The judge took it to heart, somewhat testily.
When a deputy tried to recommend an enhanced penalty on Thursday, Palomino cut him short and reminded him of the new edict.
"They told me, 'My deputies won't tell you how to sentence, you don't tell us how to charge,' " Palomino said.
The deputy looked sheepish. "Wow," someone whispered.
Since the memos, officers are back to sitting in court and waiting -- sometimes all day.
The 454 cases before Palomino Thursday included 207 from Tampa police, 179 from the Sheriff's Office and 59 from the Florida Highway Patrol. A blur of navy, forest green and tan uniforms squeezed into benches, jury seats and aisles, spilled out of the courtroom and forced members of the public to wait outside until their cases were called.
"This place gets worse and worse," a lawyer muttered as he pushed his way to an open space.
Officers have to be there or else their case is automatically dismissed. So just showing up will often prompt a "no contest" plea from a defendant who hoped the officer wouldn't make it.
As the hours dragged on, one officer likened getting his cases called to winning the lottery. Another's phone rang with a text message from a colleague sitting across the crowded room.
This s---s, it read.
Local traffic lawyers might not put it quite that way, but those contacted by the Times seem to share the sentiment.
They argue against Hogue's rule, saying the officer who wrote the ticket and saw the driver's demeanor should have a say about a suitable punishment.
They believe the judge is now convicting more drivers, and suspect that the police chief and Hillsborough Sheriff David Gee are behind it. Fines are collected only when someone is found guilty, they point out.
"They're treating traffic tickets like somebody robbed a bank," attorney Ty Trayner said. "They're just traffic tickets."
But law enforcement leaders said the revenue that comes to their agencies from tickets is hardly worth discussing.
"Traffic citations are not anything that anyone makes money on," Hogue said.
On average, Tampa takes in about $14 for every ticket written, he said. That doesn't even pay for the 20 to 25 minutes it takes to write them, he said.
Highway Patrol Maj. Thomas Knight said it's about ethics, not money.
Attorney backlash
On Aug. 9, Palomino went away to a conference.
Lawyers knew it, and some sought to add about six months' worth of motions to that day's calendar. Nine lawyers persuaded Senior Judge Elvin Martinez to dismiss nearly 900 tickets that had legal defects.
Of those, about 700 belonged to attorney Dennis Lopez, according to court records.
"It sounds like a high number, but it's just a small percentage of my cases," Lopez said. And they were motions that "would normally get granted in due course."
Even before the late additions, the docket had bulged with 400 cases. Court lasted until 10:30 p.m., said Carla Snavely, chief deputy of courts for the clerk's office.
On Friday, Palomino said he knew nothing about it.
Clocking overtime
Many officers reporting to court are off duty. Union contracts allow them to collect a minimum of overtime pay for time spent in court on their days off. Even if court takes just 15 minutes, the officer is entitled to three hours overtime with the Tampa police, 2 1/2 hours with the Highway Patrol or two hours with the Sheriff's Office.
Could that be an incentive for bosses, who already are paying for officers to sit in court, to make sure they're getting their money's worth?
Leaders in each agency said the overtime factor had nothing to do with their decision to ban officers from participating in the plea agreements.
In fact, Hogue says his moratorium has increased overtime. "This is costing us more money, no question about it."
As for the on-duty officers, there's an equally worrisome issue: "Obviously, if they're in court testifying, they're not on the road," said sheriff's Col. Greg Brown.
It's hard to get solid numbers showing the financial impact traffic court has had on overtime pay and on street patrols. All of the agencies said they track overtime claimed for court duty, but they don't differentiate between traffic court and criminal court.
Still, Maj. John Bennett, head of special operations, which includes the police traffic division, said he knows anecdotally that officers are spending more time sitting in court than ever before.
"We shouldn't have to live at the courthouse on our days off," said Kevin Durkin, president of the West Central Florida Police Benevolent Association. "It's frustrating to sit in court all day and never testify - whether you're getting overtime or not. It's boring."
So, are the streets less safe with all those cops tied up in court? Agency leaders say that, so far, they're handling the demand.
In Tampa, crash figures continue to be down over last year, according to the police. April and May accidents were down 26 and 22 percent, respectively.
But the drop has been less dramatic in the two months since Hogue issued his memo. In June, crashes were down 21 percent. In July, the drop was 17 percent.
Solutions
Palomino, who jokes that his docket could fill a convention room, has gotten some relief. More is on the way.
A hearing officer, who already had been handling some traffic cases during the week, began holding night traffic court every other Thursday this summer.
And starting Sept. 4, County Judge Joelle Ann Ober will take over half of Palomino's docket, holding traffic court each Tuesday and possibly another day if needed, Menendez said.
Officials also will stagger hearing times. Instead of everyone on Palomino's morning docket showing up at 8:30 a.m., some will be asked to arrive at 10 a.m.
"We've got to get people in and out," Menendez said.
Pinellas County holds traffic court every day in two places, plus night court in two locations on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. And the caseload is smaller than in Hillsborough: 203,000 civil and criminal traffic citations last year.
An understatement
Remember Officer Yeoman, coming to court Thursday morning on three hours sleep?
The clock read 5:04 p.m. when Palomino called the final case, a speeding ticket Yeoman wrote. The lawyer quickly entered a no-contest plea, and the judge withheld adjudication. Yeoman didn't have to say a word.
Walking to his patrol car -- home away from home until shift's end at 1:30 a.m. -- the still good-natured officer uttered this understatement: "It makes for a very long day."
Staff photographer Ken Helle contributed to this report. Rebecca Catalanello can be reached at 813 226-3383 or rcatalanello@sptimes.com.
Frustrated officers say Hillsborough's traffic court has become gridlocked.
By COLLEEN JENKINS AND REBECCA CATALANELLO, Times Staff Writers
Published August 26, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TAMPA - There's a four-letter word that describes Hillsborough County's traffic court these days.
"A mess," Tampa police Chief Stephen Hogue says.
"Just a mess," Chief Judge Manuel Menendez echoes.
The number of traffic tickets has swelled 52 percent in five years, to 272,511 last year. Court dockets are crammed with speeders and red light runners.
Law enforcement leaders and judges have been struggling to find a mutually agreeable remedy. The result has been a gridlock of unhappy uniformed officers, lawyers and citizens at the once-a-week County Court traffic hearings in Courtroom 302.
Thursday's docket, considered light at 454 cases, forced Officer Larry Yeoman to cut his night's sleep short to attend morning court, then kept him away from his South Tampa patrol area for three hours of his late-afternoon shift.
Fellow officers came to court on their day off, racking up guaranteed hours of overtime no matter how long they stayed or whether they even testified.
Most left frustrated
"Please do something for us," begged a deputy who left court after more than two hours.
County Judge Raul "Sonny" Palomino Jr. thought he had the answer.
When he took over traffic court a year ago, he noticed that officers and lawyers often agreed about how a case should be resolved before it ever came before him. So he created a form that allowed the two sides to consent to a plea and get the officer out of court quickly.
Hogue was taken aback when he heard about the plea form this spring.
He supported the quickened pace of the docket but didn't like the idea of his officers recommending that the judge settle for a lesser penalty or no finding of guilt on a traffic charge.
"You're going to write a ticket to somebody, then you're going to say, 'Okay, withhold it?' " Hogue said. "We had no idea this was going on."
On May 30, the police chief issued a memo prohibiting officers from signing plea agreements in traffic court. Then the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office used almost exactly the same language in its own memo June 1, followed by one from the Florida Highway Patrol on June 22.
The edicts prescribed that officers, deputies and troopers "must not be a party to any written plea agreement or orally state in court an opinion as to the appropriate disposition of a traffic case to include withholding adjudication, recommending court costs or any other sanctions. That responsibility rests solely with the presiding judge."
Hogue and sheriff's officials met with Palomino to share their concerns.
The judge took it to heart, somewhat testily.
When a deputy tried to recommend an enhanced penalty on Thursday, Palomino cut him short and reminded him of the new edict.
"They told me, 'My deputies won't tell you how to sentence, you don't tell us how to charge,' " Palomino said.
The deputy looked sheepish. "Wow," someone whispered.
Since the memos, officers are back to sitting in court and waiting -- sometimes all day.
The 454 cases before Palomino Thursday included 207 from Tampa police, 179 from the Sheriff's Office and 59 from the Florida Highway Patrol. A blur of navy, forest green and tan uniforms squeezed into benches, jury seats and aisles, spilled out of the courtroom and forced members of the public to wait outside until their cases were called.
"This place gets worse and worse," a lawyer muttered as he pushed his way to an open space.
Officers have to be there or else their case is automatically dismissed. So just showing up will often prompt a "no contest" plea from a defendant who hoped the officer wouldn't make it.
As the hours dragged on, one officer likened getting his cases called to winning the lottery. Another's phone rang with a text message from a colleague sitting across the crowded room.
This s---s, it read.
Local traffic lawyers might not put it quite that way, but those contacted by the Times seem to share the sentiment.
They argue against Hogue's rule, saying the officer who wrote the ticket and saw the driver's demeanor should have a say about a suitable punishment.
They believe the judge is now convicting more drivers, and suspect that the police chief and Hillsborough Sheriff David Gee are behind it. Fines are collected only when someone is found guilty, they point out.
"They're treating traffic tickets like somebody robbed a bank," attorney Ty Trayner said. "They're just traffic tickets."
But law enforcement leaders said the revenue that comes to their agencies from tickets is hardly worth discussing.
"Traffic citations are not anything that anyone makes money on," Hogue said.
On average, Tampa takes in about $14 for every ticket written, he said. That doesn't even pay for the 20 to 25 minutes it takes to write them, he said.
Highway Patrol Maj. Thomas Knight said it's about ethics, not money.
Attorney backlash
On Aug. 9, Palomino went away to a conference.
Lawyers knew it, and some sought to add about six months' worth of motions to that day's calendar. Nine lawyers persuaded Senior Judge Elvin Martinez to dismiss nearly 900 tickets that had legal defects.
Of those, about 700 belonged to attorney Dennis Lopez, according to court records.
"It sounds like a high number, but it's just a small percentage of my cases," Lopez said. And they were motions that "would normally get granted in due course."
Even before the late additions, the docket had bulged with 400 cases. Court lasted until 10:30 p.m., said Carla Snavely, chief deputy of courts for the clerk's office.
On Friday, Palomino said he knew nothing about it.
Clocking overtime
Many officers reporting to court are off duty. Union contracts allow them to collect a minimum of overtime pay for time spent in court on their days off. Even if court takes just 15 minutes, the officer is entitled to three hours overtime with the Tampa police, 2 1/2 hours with the Highway Patrol or two hours with the Sheriff's Office.
Could that be an incentive for bosses, who already are paying for officers to sit in court, to make sure they're getting their money's worth?
Leaders in each agency said the overtime factor had nothing to do with their decision to ban officers from participating in the plea agreements.
In fact, Hogue says his moratorium has increased overtime. "This is costing us more money, no question about it."
As for the on-duty officers, there's an equally worrisome issue: "Obviously, if they're in court testifying, they're not on the road," said sheriff's Col. Greg Brown.
It's hard to get solid numbers showing the financial impact traffic court has had on overtime pay and on street patrols. All of the agencies said they track overtime claimed for court duty, but they don't differentiate between traffic court and criminal court.
Still, Maj. John Bennett, head of special operations, which includes the police traffic division, said he knows anecdotally that officers are spending more time sitting in court than ever before.
"We shouldn't have to live at the courthouse on our days off," said Kevin Durkin, president of the West Central Florida Police Benevolent Association. "It's frustrating to sit in court all day and never testify - whether you're getting overtime or not. It's boring."
So, are the streets less safe with all those cops tied up in court? Agency leaders say that, so far, they're handling the demand.
In Tampa, crash figures continue to be down over last year, according to the police. April and May accidents were down 26 and 22 percent, respectively.
But the drop has been less dramatic in the two months since Hogue issued his memo. In June, crashes were down 21 percent. In July, the drop was 17 percent.
Solutions
Palomino, who jokes that his docket could fill a convention room, has gotten some relief. More is on the way.
A hearing officer, who already had been handling some traffic cases during the week, began holding night traffic court every other Thursday this summer.
And starting Sept. 4, County Judge Joelle Ann Ober will take over half of Palomino's docket, holding traffic court each Tuesday and possibly another day if needed, Menendez said.
Officials also will stagger hearing times. Instead of everyone on Palomino's morning docket showing up at 8:30 a.m., some will be asked to arrive at 10 a.m.
"We've got to get people in and out," Menendez said.
Pinellas County holds traffic court every day in two places, plus night court in two locations on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. And the caseload is smaller than in Hillsborough: 203,000 civil and criminal traffic citations last year.
An understatement
Remember Officer Yeoman, coming to court Thursday morning on three hours sleep?
The clock read 5:04 p.m. when Palomino called the final case, a speeding ticket Yeoman wrote. The lawyer quickly entered a no-contest plea, and the judge withheld adjudication. Yeoman didn't have to say a word.
Walking to his patrol car -- home away from home until shift's end at 1:30 a.m. -- the still good-natured officer uttered this understatement: "It makes for a very long day."
Staff photographer Ken Helle contributed to this report. Rebecca Catalanello can be reached at 813 226-3383 or rcatalanello@sptimes.com.
Labels: Driving Record, Florida, Ticket, Traffic School, Traffic Tickets
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