HPOU Opposition to Patrol Productivity Program: Information on the HPD pilot program initiated earliers this summer.

Earlier this summer, Chief Bradford announced his 30-day pilot program that was being initiated to measure police officer productivity in patrol. Chief Bradford assured us as well as other officers involved in the conversation regarding this specific matter that the pilot program would not be altered and that it would enable him to design a functional long-term program at the conclusion of the 30-day initial pilot period.

During the month of July, Chief Bradford took an extended period of time off from his responsibilities as chief and named Executive Assistant Chief Joe Breshears serve as acting chief of the department. Shortly after Chief Breshears took control of the department he unilaterally altered a major component of the patrol productivity program and imposed a ludicrous plan that would require patrol officers to document the telephone numbers of citizens who are stopped by HPD officers and released without issuing any citations. We contacted Acting Chief Breshears about our concerns related to him altering a pilot program that Chief Bradford clearly promised would not be altered until such time as the pilot period was completed and properly analyzed before any final plan was implemented. Our protests regarding such a dangerous and ill-advised plan caused Acting Chief Breshears and his advisors to momentarily pause. However, they eventually continued down their path to make the proposed productivity plan a completely unworkable program.

On July 30, 2002, Executive Assistant Chief Joe Breshears in his capacity as Operations Coordinator documented what we believe is a final nail in the coffin to implementing any workable patrol productivity plan. In other words, it is our clear belief that officers in patrol and the HPOU are being double crossed and unnecessarily exposed to major problems via the specific language in Executive Assistant Chief Breshears' memo to all HPD captains.

It is completely ludicrous and unprofessional to mandate that HPD officers require citizens to give them their telephone numbers in order to earn a point that is part of how patrol officers' productivity is evaluated. Their ridiculous mandate will lead to serious problems between our department and the citizens we serve by requiring violators who are not cited to give a police officer their phone number when they are not under arrest or being cited for any offense.

We can only imagine what a patrol officer will be exposed to when they stop a female on traffic, warn them, and then inform them that before they are free to go they must give them (the officer) their telephone number. The improper appearance of such a stunt is off the scale as it relates to maintaining some semblance of professional decorum by HPD officers during a traffic stop.

As a result of the new revelations that clearly demonstrate the department's true intent is to force patrol officers to issue citations as a hidden component of the proposed patrol productivity, we are compelled to state that we do not support the program or the direction it is going. In the past, we have advocated to the administration that they enact a process where patrol officers can issue warning citations to violators, however, our request has been disregarded. The Texas Department of Public Safety and other agencies have had such a program in place and it accomplishes fundamentally the same objective as it relates to gathering citizens' personal information and supplying them documentation related to how the information is utilized. Accordingly, we are contacting the Texas Attorney General with respect to the administration's insistence that we collect private information from citizens who are not charged with any offense and permanently record a government record.

In closing, please use extreme caution while executing your duties as a patrol officer, especially during traffic stops. The potential for complaints and misunderstandings that could permanently destroy a patrol officer's career as a result of the administration's ill-advised patrol directive has been significantly increased.

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