The Auburn Police Department union has lodged a labor grievance against Police Chief Gary Giannotta for what the union perceives as punishing four officers for not writing enough vehicle and traffic tickets. The union claims Giannotta initiated an illegal ticket quota system last December requiring police officers to write at least one ticket per shift or be punished for...
Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmannn, and Auburn, NY Police chief Gary Giannotta at press conference on March 18 for the investigation of Auburn Policeman Brian Hutchings.
The Auburn Police Department union has lodged a labor grievance against Police Chief Gary Giannotta for what the union perceives as punishing four officers for not writing enough vehicle and traffic tickets.
The union claims Giannotta initiated an illegal ticket quota system last December requiring police officers to write at least one ticket per shift or be punished for failing to do so.
The four officers, all of whom serve on the day shift, were ordered by Giannotta last month to start filing more detailed daily reports to indicate what they do every half hour on the job, said Timothy Cottrell, president of Auburn Police Local 195.
At the end of their work week officers were told to complete a weekly summary report of how many vehicle and traffic tickets they write, Cottrell said.
The union president said it was wrong for Giannotta to single out the four officers and said it is illegal in New York state for an employer to punish an employee for failing to meet ticket quotas. Section 215 (a) of the New York labor law prohibits that practice.
However, Giannotta said he never used the word “quota’’ or threatened to punish any officers for not meeting his goal of writing at least one ticket per shift. He said he ordered the four officers to file the activity reports because he said they were not writing enough tickets and he wanted to know how they were spending their workdays.
“This had nothing to do with quotas. I wanted to know what they were doing all day….All we’re trying to do is increase their productivity. We are their employer and we have a right to know what they’re doing all day,’’ Giannotta said.
Since then, two of the officers were spared from having to complete the daily and weekly activity reports because they started ticketing more motorists, Giannotta said. All police officers have to turn in less-detailed summaries of their work shifts.
The grievance heads to a closed hearing before city attorney John Rossi on Thursday. If the union loses at that hearing it will appeal the case to an independent arbitrator, Cottrell said.
In January Giannotta said he was acting under orders from City Manager Mark Palesh to boost his department’s ticket revenues.
In 2008-09 the city collected nearly $100,000 in vehicle and traffic fines but will likely end this fiscal year on June 30 with about $82,000 in fines, Comptroller Lisa Green said. Two years ago, vehicle and traffic fines totaled about $68,000.
Like Giannotta, Palesh said there is no ticket quota system in place and said he and the police chief are only trying to get all police officers to put in a full day’s work.
“We’re asking the police officers to do their jobs and the union is taking exception to that premise,’’ Palesh said.
Cottrell disagreed and said the union views the policy as an illegal quota system. He said police officers have more to do than to just write vehicle and traffic tickets. He also said he doesn’t think police officers should be called on to write more tickets to make money for the city.
“I have a personal problem with that. We’re supposed to write tickets to modify behavior not to raise revenues for the city,’’ Cottrell said.
You can reach Scott Rapp at srapp@syracuse.com or 289-4839