Speed, And The Cop Might Get A Free Pizza
Be careful if you take I84, one of Connecticut’s main drags. You could turn into collateral damage of a war between feuding State Police troops. There might be a pizza prize on your head.
A memo, written by the commander of Troop I in Bethany, created an uproar in Connecticut and beyond. Lt. Anthony Schirillo III, Troop I’s commander, issued an “all hands on deck” email for Friday, says the Connecticut Post. “We have to issue 60 infractions/misdemeanors each shift for a total of 180 infractions, in order to outperform Troop F and Troop G,” Schirillo wrote.
Schirillo told his men that Troop F had written 301 tickets, Troop G had outdone them with 345 tickets:
“We can do better. I am asking that everyone, myself included, contribute to this effort. Based on the number of on-duty personnel, 60 infractions a shift would proportionately put us above both troops. Note, if we happen to issue 350 tickets in one day that would be stellar.”
Putting even more fire under his men, Schirillo offered, in a follow-up email, pizza to the trooper writing the most tickets.
Matthew Andrews, president of the Connecticut State Police Union, said state law prohibits quotas:
“Our members won’t comply with an illegal order or a ticket quota and will always use discretion as allowed by our department policy and the law. This wasn’t just specifically Troop I. It’s going on around the state that there’s an increased desire to issue more tickets and we don’t think it’s proper. “
Lt. J. Paul Vance, spokesman for the state’s Division of State Police, played down the incident, saying that Schirillo was merely cheerleading:
“There’s no way there were any required quotas. Lt. Schirillo was saying, `Let’s go and work and give a little bit more, work a little bit harder, there are speeders out there.’ It was motivational and maybe he needed a little polish on it.”
Schirillo lists the FBI National Academy and the University of Connecticut as places where he received education. He is Chairman of the Homeland Security Region 1 Steering Committee and the Emergency Management Director of the Town of Stratford. He seems to be polished enough.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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I live in Ct have most of my life (spent a few years in eastern maine) The state police are usually pretty fair around here not nearly as bad as they are in Jersey and Ohio base on my experience. As mentioned above Vernon has a speed trap on 84 (right after my exit 63 actually) The only other spot in the state Ive found to have a consistent speed trap is rt2 south entering Colchester. The local cops can be another matter entirely (I'm talking to you Windsor). For you out of staters the front line troopers have been in bitter contract disputes of late and my guess is this will become a bigger issue if the not taken care of right away. The state and the union are battling over a law that sets a minimum number of troopers based on population. Our current gov laid off a few bringing the number under the min. After some posturing they were hired back.
Literally thousands of people owe their lives to this patron saint of the highways. I'm sure that he won't be fired, reprimanded, or stop doing these idiotic quota stunts. And when he's older and fatter, they'll be a nice union pension for him to retire on.