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ISP steak dinner incentive exposed, trashed

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Illinois

Inspect the most commercial trucks. Win a steak dinner.

That was a contest apparently put in place by an Illinois State Police safety educational officer based in Ullin — who inadvertently sent the email announcing the winning squad meant for his colleagues to media contacts late this week.

Trooper Greg Miller from downstate District 22, who sent the email, followed up with one asking media representatives to disregard his message. Attempts to reach him about the steak dinner reward initiative were unsuccessful.

His email stated, “I know this contest was a little painful for some of you to participate in since not everyone likes doing trucks. I want to thank everyone who put forth an effort to participate and help with your squad totals.”

The email goes on to congratulate Squad A on its win, and says, “There will be more contests throughout the year covering different activity categories.”

* The Southern followed up with an editorial…

District 22’s incentive program flirts with everything wrong with the now-banned quota system. […]

Every job has duties that are less enjoyable than others. And, as Miller’s email suggests, inspecting a tractor trailer isn’t atop most troopers’ list of preferred activities. As ISP has previously noted, truck inspections can make the highways a little safer.

But, as bill proponents in the General Assembly noted this past year, stuffing state coffers was outstripping “protect and serve.” Few things undermine the public trust more than people believing they are getting bilked.

The police aren’t to blame for quota systems instituted over the past decade. That bright idea sprung from the minds of politicians scrambling for loose change.

But policies, including the bad ones, tend to permeate a culture once they’ve been in place for a while. And the steak dinner incentive program reeks of something long past its expiration date.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 12:41 pm

Comments

Dumb. Tone deaf.

Comment by Langhorne Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 12:46 pm
Who knew?

Comment by Keyser Soze Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 12:49 pm
I have to admit that not only was I not surprised by this article but that I can’t believe nothing else was reported before this week. I’d bet that this has been going on for a while.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 12:49 pm
ISP brass found the steak dinner hard to swallow?

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 12:49 pm
Question on top of the quota issue……just who was going to pay for this steak dinner? Surely it wasn’t coming out of ISP funds when we’re busy cutting services to Autistic child services, right?

Comment by Get a Job! Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 12:51 pm
Yeah, we don’t need the ISP to be bounty hunters.

Let’s stick with reasonable suspicion before instituting a search.

Comment by Wordslinger Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 12:51 pm
It was not a official quota. It was an internal competition within that work unit. No supervisor required this to happen. There is a difference. Our supervisors know that they cannot require quotas. As you can see a Trooper sent the email. He is not a supervisor. Looks bad, but story is a non-starter.

Comment by TROOPER Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 1:03 pm
Will we soon see contact cards at ISP to eventually uncover other potentially illegal patterns of policing?

Comment by Precinct Captain Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 1:14 pm
ISP…mobilized meter maids.

I kid, I kid.

Comment by Under Influenced Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 1:29 pm
Carrot or stick, makes no difference TROOPER.

Imagine a steak dinner being offered to the trooper who write the most speeding tickets, or searches the most passenger vehicles.

Now imagine you are an Illinois driver who got a ticket last month when you thought a warning was more in order, then you learn there was a contest.

Remember, ever time a semi driver is stopped and searched, he isn’t just losing time, he is losing money.

Bad, bad, bad.

Comment by Juvenal Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 1:30 pm
Trooper, with all due respect, rewarding someone who does the most inspections is very much a quota, just without specifying a number. Really what’s the different between saying “inspect 20 trucks this month” and saying “inspect as many trucks as you possibly can & I’ll reward you if it’s enough”?

Comment by Get a Job! Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 1:31 pm
Trooper makes it very clear why the ISP should not hold the federal money that pays for truck inspections. But, that is exactly what HB3937 would do

Comment by Golfman-r Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 1:51 pm
Thank you TROOPER. Nothing to see here, move along. Got it.

Comment by LizPhairTax Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 1:59 pm
===story is a non-starter. ===

Sez you.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 2:02 pm
=Let’s stick with reasonable suspicion before instituting a search=

I agree. Now learn the difference between an inspection and a search and you might have something to worry about.

Comment by Leave a Light on George Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 2:05 pm
It wasn’t a quota it was a…ugh..it was an incentive. Yeah that’s it.

A rose by any other name…It was a quota TROOPER.

Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 2:08 pm
Ha that ain’t the only quota, official or unofficial, that goes on there. But I will say that each Governor and Director had their own set of law enforcement “priorities” and goals, and all means were utilized to achieve them whether they were needed or not. Fatal Five and Fatal Four made for great press releases but they translated to quotas for the coppers.

Comment by Former Merit Comp Slave Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 2:13 pm
The feds require troopers to complete 32 mcs inspections per year to keep their certification. They aren’t considered enforcement activity like a ticket or warning, but an administrative function.

Comment by Will Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 2:42 pm
Will doesn’t that just apply to Level III, not I or II? Very few level III officers…….

Comment by Former Merit Comp Slave Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 2:52 pm
-TROOPER-: “Looks bad, but…”

Yes, it does TROOPER. It looks very, very bad.

Comment by CountieMountie Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 2:53 pm
Former Merit Comp, all troopers are at least Level III, that is the lowest level of expertise. It basically qualifies you to inspect log book, medical card and other paperwork.

There is a push within ISP to increase truck inspections due to the numerous troops killed and seriously injured by commercial trucks in the last couple years as well as meeting federally set levels of commercial truck inspections. So: semi’s killed some troopers and our federal grant money is in danger.

I also want to clarify that a commercial motor vehicle inspection does not mean a commercial vehicle was searched. It means a trooper pulled over a truck, looked at the drivers paperwork and looked for driver and vehicle violations and filled out a form.

Comment by Freeze up Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 3:16 pm
“The doctor that diagnoses the most cases of pneumonia wins a steak dinner!”

Comment by Skeptic Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 3:19 pm
FMCS-You’re remembering it backwards. All troopers come out of the academy level 3, which is driver inpection only. Level 2 is another 40 hour class that enables the officer to look for violations on the truck and trailer. Level 1 are the full time commercial vehicle officers. As of last year, regardless of the level, all officers are required to do 32 inspections just to maintain certification.

Comment by Will Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 3:21 pm
The fact that two of my brothers-at-arms had been killed in the line of duty by commercial vehicle operators in the past two years would be all the incentive I would need as a road dog to step it up. Keep the steak dinner.

I wonder if this dude ponders why he is posted in Ullin?

Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 3:25 pm
@AA- Well stated- no more “motivation” needed.

Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 3:38 pm
Will and Freezeup I stand corrected and was not aware of new requirement on 32 inspections since I retired. AA yea that’s the way it’s supposed to be for sure. The vast majority of troopers are good guys and don’t need to be told how to do their jobs, but command and politics keep interfering with that.

Comment by Former Merit Comp Slave Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 3:46 pm
Trooper, how many other “not official quota” quotas are there?
Steak dinner prizes would be more appropriate for perfect attendance or other internal operations of the state police. Anything that temps an officer to be over-zealous against the public is very bad and should be discontinued.

Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 3:46 pm
Any way you slice it, the public has been targeted in a contest. It’s sorta like who can shoot the most quail.

Comment by Keyser Soze Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 3:59 pm
Completing motor carrier inspections is neither fun nor sexy work. It is far from the kind of work you think of when you think of reasons people want to become a trooper. There is nearly no chance you will get promoted or the community will admire you and build a statue of you in the town square because you inspected a lot of trucks. There will never be a t.v. Show about inspecting trucks. BUT, removing fatigued, drugged, unqualified semi drivers from the roads we all travel is really pretty important and admirable if you think about it.

I’m not defending what happened here but I do think this guy was probably just trying to have some fun with an important function that is viewed as a chore by most officers. I’m guessing this might fall under the heading “any reason to have a party”. It went wrong. It doesn’t look good. It doesn’t sound good. It’s probably not the worst thing a cop has ever done though.

Comment by Freeze up Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 4:01 pm
A beef over free beef.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 4:08 pm
Legally, this is not a quota. No one was required to meet a particular performance goal. Governor Rauner has said that state workers need to be more productive and effective. Offering a steak dinner to the unit with the most inspections builds cohesion and shows how more can be done with less. If anyone believes that officers in Illinois over inspect, look at Texas. There officers virtually put on white gloves and routinely issue hundreds or thousands of dollars in fines. This is an issue of public safety not personal liberty.

Comment by Muscular Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 4:17 pm
Keyser, “the public” was not targeted. Not exactly anyway. Stay with me here.

Trucking and truck drivers operate within one of the most highly regulated industries in the country and that is for good reason.

I bet you are not aware that a commercial motor vehicle can be stopped and inspected at any time by a commercial enforcement officer whether there is probable cause for the stop or not. Doesn’t sound constitutional does it? Yet this a well settled point of law and is a case where the next ed for government regulation outweighs the rights of the individual in some ways.

Again, I’m not saying this was a good idea. Just trying to provide some info you won’t find anywhere else.

Comment by Freeze up Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 4:21 pm
When I supervised for the state, I/we rewarded workers with food — breakfasts and lunches. These expenses came out of our own pockets. It’s the way it is when you work for the state. We had no budget for employee recognition and everyone liked to eat.

Comment by Emily Booth Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 4:24 pm
So MADD should discontinue it awards to officers with the most DUI arrests???

Comment by One day at a time Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 4:41 pm
Freeze up, excellent point. Thanks for sharing your real world experience.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 4:58 pm
One day at a time @ 4:41 pm
==So MADD should discontinue it awards to officers with the most DUI arrests???==
And, IDOT’s recognition of those issuing the most speeding tickets…

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 5:30 pm
@Freeze up4:21 =”The public” was not targeted. Not exactly anyway.=

The point is they should be doing their job and not have quota influences either way. If truck inspection is part of it, it should be done as part of the job, without expecting anything extra.

Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 5:40 pm
I hated working trucks. But I was committed to produce so many second division vehicle contacts a year. Other than registration violations and the usual ” flags,flares, and warning devices” violations I was lost on all the Fed Regs and ICC laws on the books. I guess if I can get my contacts and hit this dude up for a steak dinner consider me in. It was probably at a truck stop where we get half price anyways. Oops.

Comment by proudstatetrooper Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 6:35 pm
This is just a case of a supervisor trying to motivate the troops to do the unsexy work of MCS inspections….I offered a similar incentive years ago in an effort to get troops motivated to handle some boring (but necessary) work. When my boss heard about it, I got my ass handed to me…..I finally understand why it was such a big deal- public perception!

Comment by Hated Doin Truck Inspections Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 7:17 pm
Who cares

Comment by K3 Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 7:57 pm
If the union put on the steak fry to promote togetherness how could that be a bad thing?

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 9:00 pm
This seems like a far cry from ticket quotas. Some friendly competition and a token incentive to help motivate employees to do the stuff nobody wants to do is a time-honored managerial strategy. Give them their darn steaks and thank them for helping keep the highways a little bit safer.

Comment by CEA Wednesday, Apr 22, 15 @ 9:47 pm
The moment I saw “Ullin”, I pretty much nodded my head in understanding. Ever driven past Ullin while going down I-57 near Cairo? You can pretty much guarantee there’s a local squad car in the median waiting to catch someone to help the local coffers. Stories like this are not shocking, even if it is not the local police doing it, it’s still the same local culture.

Comment by The Equalizer Thursday, Apr 23, 15 @ 7:29 am