The Chicago Way [Hardcover]

Traffic Tickets What a Pain
Every police officer is issued a traffic summons book when he is
assigned to a district. The supervisors have what we used to call a quota
on tickets issued. When an officer is assigned to the traffic division, he is
expected to write at least eight moving violations a shift. But that is all he
has to do; he doesn t handle any crime scenes or domestic disturbances
or whatever else comes along. On occasion, he has to handle a traffic
accident, but that s about all. Don t get me wrong. I hated to write
tickets, especially moving violations like red lights, speeding, or no left
turn. Parking tickets were also a pain in the ass; all they accomplish is
that the poor soul that gets the ticket now hates you.
I guess that they are a necessity though, and maybe in some way
they help keep drivers from getting too crazy behind the wheel of their
car or truck. Personally, I would rather be out in the street locking up
bad guys and harassing gang bangers. Some of these traffic guys really
like working traffic, giving out their quota of summons, and putting a
few drunk drivers in jail before they kill somebody or themselves.
People that get stopped by the police for a traffic violation really
come up with some original excuses. I remember an elderly lady that we
stopped for driving the wrong way on a one-way street. This violation
is usually an open-and-shut case. When I asked her for her driver s
license and explained why we had stopped her, she called me a liar
and asked why wasn t I out chasing down dope dealers or communists
instead of bothering a woman alone in a car trying to get home.
20 DON HERION
No matter what I said to her, she had a look of hate in her eyes;
and if she had a gun, she would have shot me dead. When I began
opening the summons book to write her the ticket, she pulled an
acting job on me that was a beauty. The first thing she did was to roll
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