Parking Ticket Revenue in L.A.

As the bargaining representative for the city’s 572 traffic officers, we are deeply concerned with Mayor Tom Bradley’s suggestion that the traffic officers have somehow been derelict in their duties (“Officers Cited for Too Few Parking Tickets,” Metro, May 15). Traffic officers are hard-working, conscientious city employees who are under increasing pressure to write tickets in an effort to balance the city’s budget.

Because traffic officers have made a stand and refused to write questionable tickets, Bradley is threatening to reward them for their honesty by eliminating their jobs. While the mayor says he will not tolerate ticket quotas, he also says that traffic officers aren’t writing enough tickets and that the city should consider hiring a private firm to perform that service.

According to the Bureau of Transportation’s annual report for fiscal year 1988-89, traffic officers issued 4,383,076 citations, compared to 3,460,713 tickets during the previous fiscal year, a 21% increase. Yet, Mayor Bradley says this is not enough. The mayor also says that traffic officers issue an average of 39 citations per day and that is too low.

In arriving at this figure, the mayor and the city administrative officer have lumped all traffic officers together and treated them as if the only job duties are to write tickets and produce revenue for the city. Such is not the case. Traffic officers perform a wide array of duties. In addition to writing tickets, they impound vehicles, respond to radio calls, handle abandoned vehicles, work on the booting detail and handle intersection control. When one factors out the time spent on these important and essential non-ticket writing duties performed by the officers, the average number of citations written is 71 tickets.

We are also concerned that Mayor Bradley would even consider hiring a private firm to handle ticket writing when the only portion of the department’s operation that is currently handled by a private contractor is also the only part of the operation that has failed to fulfill its mission. With more than $250 million in uncollected parking fines, the city is hard-pressed to call this part of the program a success.

We do not believe the mayor should retaliate against traffic officers because the city is faced with a fiscal crisis and needs someone to blame.

DAVID TROWBRIDGE

General Manager, Service Employees

International Union, Local 347

Los Angeles