Angry Manhattan Beach Police Won’t Issue Tickets

The Manhattan Beach Police Officers Assn. said Wednesday that its members will stop issuing traffic tickets to protest a new, one-year contract forced on them by council members this week after negotiations stalled.

The union represents 49 of the department’s 58 officers. Four rookie officers who belong to the union but are still on probation will continue to write tickets, according to the group.

Last month, each motorcycle officer issued an average of 104 traffic tickets, said Police Chief Ted Mertens. The city collects about $800,000 annually in traffic ticket fines.

The union said officers are staging the job action in an attempt to persuade city officials to go back to the bargaining table. At issue are wage concerns and a provision in the new contract that officers say requires them to meet a ticket quota--a contention city officials deny.

“We are simply not going to issue traffic citations, which is not to say people can come and do what they want to do,” said Sgt. Bill Sapp, who represented the union in negotiations with the city.

“We are going to strictly enforce the laws in all other areas as we always have,” Sapp said.

Chief Mertens called the job action “really unfortunate.” He said he had no plans to order the officers to write tickets.

Under state law, council members, who approved the contract Tuesday night on a 3-to-2 vote, have the authority to impose it on the union. The group declared an impasse in negotiations with the city in August, one month after its previous contract had expired.

Councilwoman Patricia Collins, who along with council members Connie Sieber and Bob Holmes voted to approve the new contract, said that she believes it is “a good deal.”

However, she said that she would be willing to resume talks if the officers association is willing to compromise.

“Oh, you betcha,” Collins said, but “they have given us no indication thus far they are willing to make any movement.”

Relations between the union and city officials have been fractious for years as the two sides haggled over wage and benefit issues. None of the present five council members were endorsed by the union when they ran for election.

A major stumbling block in the most recent negotiations has been the issue of longevity pay, or the extra money officers receive depending on how long they have been with the department.

Under the old contract, officers hired before 1975 received a 5% boost in pay after seven years of service, and another 5% increase when they reached the 14-year mark. Those hired after 1975 receive $100 a month extra after seven years and another $100 after 10.

The city’s new contract, however, eliminates longevity pay for new hires and freezes longevity pay amounts for those already receiving it.

In addition to the longevity pay issue, association members also are angry over a provision in the new contract that requires them to maintain what city officials term a specific “productivity” level in issuing tickets. In return, officers keep the right to work a four-day, 10-hour-per-day workweek. All of the department’s uniformed officers now work such a schedule.

Under the contract, officers must issue a total of 1,369 traffic citations a month, 576 of which must be for “hazardous violations” such as running stop signs or reckless driving. While city officials and Mertens contend the number is meant to serve as a guideline, association members say it is essentially a quota system and is illegal under state law.

“We will not violate a law to uphold a benefit,” Sapp said.