san diego stop serious traffic offender program team



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98-67SAN DIEGO TRAFFICOFFENDER PROGRAMS.T.O.P.A PROBLEM ORIENTED POLICING ANALYSISFOR THEHERMAN GOLDSTIEN EXCELLENCE IN POP AWARD
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SGT. GEORGE YOUKHANNAOFFICERSDONALD CONEANTOINE EL-ASSISBRUCE KENNEDYCURTIS PERKINSSTEVEN WHEELERCODE COMPLIANCE OFFICERJOYCE VAN DYKEADMINISTRATIVE AIDECHERYL HALLCLERICAL ASSISTANTSANDRA LAMB
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SUMMARYSCANNING:In 1995, a San Diego Police traffic officer stopped a violator who had severalsuspensions on his driving record as well as two outstanding warrants for drivingwhile suspended. This occurred on more than one occasion during the week,and the officer felt there was a trend. The officer received approval to determinethe severity of the problem and began by researching statistics maintained by thedepartment's traffic division.ANALYSIS:A preliminary investigation revealed that suspended and unlicensed drivers wereinvolved in 39% of all fatal and felony collisions within the City of San Diego. ADMV search revealed there were 45,449 suspended drivers residing in the citylimits. Further, DMV estimated that 71 % of those suspended or revoked driverswould continue to drive.Prosecution of the suspended or unlicensed driver contributed to recidivism.Errors by officers citing violators and a poor communication with the CityAttorney's office contributed to dismissal or rejection of 29% of license violationsissued during 1995.RESPONSE:The Department authorized the creation of a special team that would addressseveral issues involving suspended and unlicensed drivers. The acronym chosenfor the team was STOP, or San Diego Traffic Offender program. The team wasstaffed with a sergeant, five officers, an attorney, and an administrative aide.Team members were given assignments and goals identified by the Department.These goals included training the patrol force to properly cite violators, improveprosecution and reduce dismissed citations, reduce collisions, and affectunrelated criminal activity. The team devised strategies for capturing habitualoffenders and developed a public awareness program. Written and televisedmedia was used to get the word out.ASSESSMENT:During the first year of operation, the most significant accomplishment was thereduction of hit-and-run collisions by 27%. The judicial branch became morestringent on prosecution and sentencing. Department support and participationwas overwhelming. The project was distributed to other agencies as a model.
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PROJECT DESCRIPTIONSCANNING:In November of 1995, San Diego Motor Officer Bruce Kennedy initiated a trafficstop on a vehicle for a car pool violation. The driver of the car had 11 active licensesuspensions and several warrants for driving with a suspended license. During hisnine-year career with the San Diego Police, Officer Kennedy encountered hundreds ofdrivers who seemed to flagrantly ignore court and Department of Motor Vehicle ordersnot to drive a vehicle. Officer Kennedy chose to address the license offender problembecause of the widespread disregard of the driver license laws throughout the City ofSan Diego.During the initial level of diagnosis, it was discovered that the license offenderwas more than a local problem. In fact, it was statewide. The license offender was anenormous problem with an estimated 1,720,000 suspended/revoked or unlicenseddrivers throughout California! In an effort to determine how he could address such alarge issue, more information would be needed to discover exactly how the licenseoffender affected the City of San Diego. Several informal meetings were held withofficers and supervisors in order to evaluate what efforts might be considered toaddress the license offender.
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Excellence in P.O.P. NominationANALYSIS:Research began at a local level. San Diego Police Department statisticsrevealed that during 1995 the San Diego Police Traffic Division investigated 62 fatalcollisions and 104 felony cases. Out of 166 fatal or felony cases, 39.2% of the driverswere suspended, revoked or unlicensed. Forty-three percent of the 66 suspended/revoked or unlicensed drivers were repeat offenders and had multiple (as many aseight) suspensions. In January 1996, the DMV advised the San Diego PoliceDepartment that there were approximately 45,449 suspended or revoked drivers in theCity of San Diego.In addition to the DMV, combined statistical information from the policedepartment and the San Diego City Attorney's Office corroborated the issues. FromJanuary 1, 1995 to December 31, 1995 the San Diego Police Department issued19,431 citations for license violations. During that same period, the San Diego CityAttorney's office prosecuted 13,957 suspended license cases out of the 19,431citations issued. This figure does not include citations that were filed directly with thecourt, in which the offender plead guilty or failed to appear. In addition, not all licenseviolations were prosecuted as misdemeanor cases.Based on these figures, 71% of all license violation citations issued wereprosecuted. Approximately 29% of the remaining citations were filed directly with thecourt, dismissed or rejected. It was apparent that the suspended driver frequentlywalks away with no consequence for driving illegally.
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Excellence in P.O.P. NominationThe history of the suspended license driver has been evident since the trackingof statistical data began in the early 1970's. As with drunk drivers in the 1980's, theattention on the suspended license driver did not begin to gain recognition in Californiauntil the early 1990's.In 1991, the Santa Rosa Police Department began to research the suspendedlicense driver issue. It was during this time that the California State Legislature beganworking towards more stringent laws. In 1995, the State of California enacted theSAFE STREETS ACT. Several cities throughout the state began to re-evaluate theirenforcement posture towards the suspended and unlicensed driver. The statelegislature found that out of all the drivers involved in fatal collisions, more than 20%were not licensed to drive.Statistics from the DMV indicates that suspended/revoked drivers in the City ofSan Diego have had their privilege to drive suspended or revoked for the followingreasons:Suspension/Revocation ReasonPercent / Number of driversFailure to appear42%19,089Driving under the influence29%13,181Insurance violations..,17%7,726Other8%3,635Negligent operation of vehicle4%1,818TOTAL100%45,449
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Excellence in P.O.P. NominationThe ultimate damage that a license offender causes is evident in the legislativefindings of the Safe Streets Act: A driver with a suspended license is four times aslikely to be involved in a fatal collision then a properly licensed driver. Additionally, over4,000 persons are killed in traffic collisions in California annually, and another 330,000persons suffer injuries.Prior to the P.O.P. project, the suspended license offender was addressed bythe police department in several ways. Special details were conducted by the TrafficDivision throughout the city specifically targeting drivers who had no license or weredriving with a suspended/revoked license. Some training was conducted by trafficofficers at area station line-ups, and local court judges were advised of the importanceof imposing maximum fines and penalties for license offenses. It was discovered,however, that there was no specific plan or problem-solving effort being conductedwithin the police department in an organized manner.The results of the traffic officer's endeavors were negligible. Although the effortshad resulted in the prosecution of suspended drivers, it was apparent that a greaterimpact needed to be made in all areas. Final analysis of the problem revealed thatthere were "loop holes" throughout the judicial system. If a reduction of fatal collisionsand license offenders was going to be seen, then enforcement, prosecution andconviction had to be evaluated and improved.
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Excellence in P.O.P. NominationDuring the analysis phase of the project, the local news media began to gaininterest in the brazen violations occurring by license offenders. A local television stationconducted a special investigation at a court house in San Diego. Several licenseviolators that were ordered by court commissioners not to drive were caught on filmdriving out of the court parking lot.The public response from this report was so overwhelming that the Shockwaveswere felt throughout the judicial system. Community response began and questionswere being asked why nothing was being done. Letters from citizens and newspapereditorials were asking the police and the courts what was going to be done. The POPproject was brought to the attention of the police department's chief administrators.Department support was immediate and a response plan was begun.RESPONSEAt this point in the project, Officer Kennedy began to assess what wouldsuccessfully modify the enforcement and prosecution methods towards the licenseoffender. Several tactical options were considered:1.Form a team of uniformed officers that would address the habitual licenseoffenders.2.Conduct covert operations that would catch habitual license offenders driving.3.Involve the media in order to publicize the efforts conducted by the policedepartment.4.Request assistance from the City Attorney's office. Assigning personnel that
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Excellence in P.O.P. Nominationwould review plea bargaining guidelines, prosecution requirements and courtprocedures.5.Increase enforcement effectiveness through education of the police, attorneys,courts and citizens.Out of the five listed options, it was apparent that not one but all of the objectiveswould need a response. In order to adequately modify enforcement and prosecutionstrategies, a determination was made to form a team of supervisors, officers, attorneysand administrative personnel that would formulate a plan addressing the listed options.The ultimate goal of the team would be to reduce the suspended and unlicenseddrivers involved in felony hit-and-run, fatal and injury collisions. The team would focuson the apprehension of offenders through traffic stops, checkpoints, warrant serviceand surveillance of the habitual offender. A San Diego Deputy City Attorney andadministrative personnel would be assigned to process and prosecute all arrests.Police Department administrators had several requirements prior toimplementing a response. What departments or division would provide personnel?Would the department budget allow additional personnel to be hired? Where wouldfinancing come from? What equipment would be needed and what are the operationalguidelines of the team? All of these supplementary questions would need to beaddressed to make the project successful.
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Excellence in P.O.P. NominationIn order to accommodate such a large-scale operation, the police departmentwould be required to take valuable personnel from one area and place them intoanother. The problem encountered: Replacing the vacated positions in order tocontinue everyday police operations. Many more questions began to arise. How manyofficers would be needed to operate efficiently? Where would the team operate?Would the City Attorney's office be able to assign personnel? Wouid additionalsupervisors be needed? As each question was considered, it was obvious thatfinancial resources would be needed outside of the department budget.The San Diego Police Department has a wide range of programs that are fundedby grants from outside entities. The Traffic Division had experience with grants thatdealt specifically with traffic safety issues. With approval from the Traffic DivisionCaptain, Officer Kennedy wrote and submitted a grant proposal to the California Officeof Traffic Safety (O.T.S.). O.T.S. is a federally-funded state agency that assists infinancing traffic safety projects for police departments throughout the state.The initial proposal asked for 1.4 million dollars. This would fund a supervisor,six officers, a city attorney, administrative personnel and all the needed equipment tosupport the team for a two-year period. The police department would absorb anyunpaid personnel and equipment costs required outside of grant funding.During the application for funding, several difficulties were encountered. Thebeginning guidelines set for the team was based on a budget of 1.4 million dollars. The
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Excellence in P.O.P. Nomination8Office of Traffic Safety made a tentative agreement to fund the program for an initialamount of $500,000. This created several problems: The amount of personnel on theteam would be diminished, reducing effectiveness; and the department would have tosupplement a greater amount of the costs.In response to this hurdle, police fiscal management was contacted. With theirassistance, personnel costs were calculated for every time a vehicle was impounded ona license offense. With the help of the Traffic Division Captain, a proposal was broughtbefore the San Diego City Manager for an "Unlicensed Driver Fee." This cost-recoveryfee would be assessed when a vehicle was impounded for a license offense. Themoney would allow the team to be self-funding without any burden on the policedepartment budget.A second obstacle during the fee process was encountered with FinancialManagement. The City of San Diego attempted to gain control of the license fees byrouting them to the general fund. The problem with this concept was there would be noguarantee that STOP would have continued funding after the grant. After severalmeetings with top city officials, an agreement was reached. The fee would be placed ina special account that could only be used for STOP-related activities. In September1996, the San Diego City Council approved a cost recovery fee of $72 for every vehiclethat was impounded for a driver license offense.
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Excellence in P. 0 .P. Nomination9Immediately following City Council approval, a contract for $635,000 was signedwith the Office of Traffic Safety. The police department utilized this initial money to startthe San Diego Traffic Offender Program (S.T.O.P.)-On November 10, 1996, with financing in place, a supervisor, City Attorney, fiveofficers and administrative personnel were brought together to establish the guidelinesfor operation. The "STOP Team" members selected were Sergeant GeorgeYoukhanna, Officers Steve Wheeler, Antoine El-Assis, Curtis Perkins, Donald Cone andBruce Kennedy. Deputy City Attorney Joan McNamara and Administrative Aide CherylHall were also asked to participate.The STOP Team began formulating a response to the problem. Based on thefive initial tactics, the STOP Team began planning specific objectives supporting its goalof reducing fatal and felony collisions.The theme "NO LICENSE, NO CAR, NO EXCEPTION" was formulated andbecame the foundation of its operation. An aggressive media and public informationcampaign was conducted to stress the consequences of driving without a license, or ona suspended or revoked license. Several other objectives were listed in response tothe program:1. Data bases were created to track all the activities of the STOP Team.2. Plea bargain guidelines were tightened, requiring stiffer penalties on thereductions.
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Excellence in P.O.P. Nomination103. Increase the prosecution of habitual offenders with a "Zero Tolerance" policy.4. Implement "stake-out" programs to aggressively seek out license offenders.5. Develop a training program motivating and educating the officers when theyshould arrest license offenders and impound their vehicle.Part of the legislature's Safe Streets Act initiative was a vehicle forfeiture law.The law allowed a license offender's car to be seized and sold at auction by theimpounding agency when certain specifications were met. This included the following:•The driver was actively suspended or unlicensed.•The driver had a prior misdemeanor conviction for a license offense.•The driver was the registered owner of the car.During the analysis phase of STOP, the police department had evaluated theforfeiture law. At that time, the law appeared too complicated to enforce without anincrease of department personnel to process the seized vehicles. Funding was notavailable to provide for this increase, thus the San Diego Police Department chose notto enforce the forfeiture law.Just prior to the contractual agreement with OTS, State Assemblyman RichardKatz wrote a letter to the City of San Diego inquiring why the second largest city in thestate was not implementing the forfeiture law. The City's response was to question thepolice department. The administrations response was directed to the STOP Team.
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Excellence in P.O.P. Nomination11A secondary review of the law by the STOP Team concluded that the law couldbe enforced within the scope of STOP Team's objectives. Santa Barbara Police haddeveloped an effective, yet simplistic method for forfeiting the license offender's vehicle.The STOP Team adopted a similar plan. Modifications were made to meet the needsof San Diego's larger population and the higher number of expected vehicle forfeitures.Team member Cheryl Hall formulated a plan that aggressively pursued driversthat were "qualified" to have their vehicles forfeited. Due to Ms. Hall's efforts, a systemwas put into place that reviewed impounds department-wide. Additionally, work beganon operating procedures for the STOP Team. Ms. Hall was also working withdepartment personnel to establish a data base program designed to capture all of theSTOP Team activities.Deputy City Attorney Joan McNamara began the lengthy procedure to set upprosecution and seizure procedures for all forfeiture cases filed. The DMV wascontacted and arrangements made to have a DMV employee train team members.This would assist them to correctly read license offender driving histories andsuspension information. Plea- bargain guidelines were addressed and adjusted in favorof stricter enforcement toward license offenders.Sergeant Youkhanna's primary task was to coordinate the entire STOPoperation. He rewrote department policies that allowed more flexibility for officers whenimpounding vehicles. Many other tasks included working with the department's Special
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Excellence in P.O.P. Nomination12Projects Office to build a brand-new facility for the STOP Team. Sergeant Youkhannawas instrumental in the building design, layout, equipment and data systems setup.Officer Steve Wheeler wrote and submitted a proposal to the Chief of Policerecommending various types of commendations that could be given to the officers fortheir efforts of removing the license offender from the road.Officer Wheeler and Officer Ei-Assis began contacting various staff within theSan Diego County Marshals Office and San Diego Municipal Court. Cooperation withthese outside agencies assisted the officers in formulating a strategy to conductundercover stings. Preparations were made with the news media by Officer E!-Assis toconduct a press release and simultaneously film the Team's first undercover sting.Officer Kennedy worked with Data Systems to reprogram the departments MobilData Computer. This allowed STOP to capture needed information to track the officersefforts department-wide. In addition, a large-scale computer system change wasinitiated to advise officers of drivers who have active warrants for their arrest.Officer Curtis Perkins began the immense task of preparing a plan to train theeight patrol divisions about STOP. Issues that needed to be addressed included whattraining would be required, who would complete the training and where would trainingoccur. Information was gathered, laws were reviewed, "cheat sheets" were created andenforcement procedures were drafted.
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Excellence in P.O.P. Nomination13During this initial response stage of the team, Officer Donald Cone was asked toreturn to his prior assignment in accident investigation. This occurred due to staffingproblems within the Traffic Division. Thus, Officer Cone was not present during the firsttwo months of the STOP Team preparation.With all systems and initial response objectives in place, the STOP Teamcompleted its preparation stage and, in January 1997, began full operation.ASSESSMENT:During its first year (January 1, 1997 to December 31, 1997) the program was anexceptional success. The results were based on statistical data retained from activitiesof the STOP Team and the police department. Cheryl Hall and Sergeant Youkhannaevaluated the effectiveness of the program during its first year. STOP Team memberscame together weekly to evaluate the program and how it could be improved. All theresults of the first year were based on the initial statistical year of 1995.•There was an 11% reduction in fatal and serious injury collisions involvingsuspended licensed drivers.•There was a 27% reduction in Hit-and-Run collisions.•Overall 25% reduction in fatal and serious injury nighttime collisions.•Department-wide suspended drivers prosecution rate up from 89% to 96%.•Department-wide conviction rate for suspended drivers up from 74% to 82%.•400 felony counts filed as a result of traffic stops involving license offenders.
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Excellence in P.O.P. Nomination14•25 stolen vehicles recovered.••21 felony warrants served.•139 felony drug arrests.>•16 weapons confiscated.•16,905 vehicles impounded for license offenses.•1,150 vehicles impounded for DUI, Reckless Driving and other traffic-relatedoffenses.•Over 9,400 vehicles legally registered at the DMV as a result of vehicleimpounds (21% increase).•270 vehicles seized and forfeited by the SDPD and San Diego City Attorney.•Cost recovery fees collected: $1.3 million.Several areas of the STOP Team goals cannot be recorded statistically. Eachindividual effort by STOP personnel resulted in outstanding achievements for an overallteam effort.Cheryl Hall and Joan McNamara completed the department wide forfeitureprogram. STOP Team officers were trained to conduct "On-the-Spot" forfeitures whilein the field. Throughout the course of the year, all Traffic Division Officers were trainedto respond to any patrol officer request for an "On-the-Spot" forfeiture. This innovativeapproach restricted the offender's time frame to respond to the forfeiture. It forced theoffender to take immediate action towards their license reinstatement, insurance andregistration requirements.
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Excellence in P.O.P. Nomination15Joan McNamara continued her work with the San Diego Courts. An agreementwas made on all license offenses that were going to be plea-bargained. Each licenseoffense, upon a plea of guilty, would cause the no license or suspended license chargeto become a misdemeanor. This allowed for the offender's car to be forfeited at a laterdate if the individual continued to drive.Sergeant George Youkhanna rewrote department impound procedures. Thesechanges enabled the officers to become "pro-impound" and remove vehicles that, priorto STOP, were untouchable. The STOP building was completed and the team movedinto their own facilities. The entire building project was funded without any expense tothe department or taxpayer. It was essentially paid for by the license offender.Officer Wheeler and El-Assis completed their projects and a court room stingtook place with the news media present. Several license offenders were captured onfilm, being told by the commissioners not to drive without a valid license. Severalminutes later those same individuals were filmed driving out of the court house parkinglot. This time they had a little surprise in store for them.STOP Team conducted traffic stops on the various individuals, arrested thedrivers and impounded the cars. On one occasion, a driver was caught by the newscrew banging his head against the family car, wishing he had listened to the judge andavoided the STOP Team.
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Excellence in P.O.P. Nomination16In addition to all of the member activities, it was determined that the programcould be enhanced by using the services of the Retired Senior Volunter Patrol (RSVP).The volunters were used to impound vehicles during special operations, which enabledthe officers more time to detect habitual violators.Officer Kennedy completed his work with Data Systems, and in a joint operationwith the San Diego County Marshal, a network system was completed. Every time anofficer runs a license check on an individual, the terminal will advise if the subject haswarrants. This is completed automatically with no effort on the officer's part. Thefunding for this phase of the project was provided by several agencies, including grantfunding from OTS.Officer Perkins concluded that a "Train the Trainer" program would be mosteffective. It was determined that over 1,000 officers working in the field would needtraining. Officer Perkins chose six officers from each division and trained them with thelatest laws and information concerning the license offender. A DMV trainer fromSacramento flew to San Diego and demonstrated to the officers how to read andinterpret the license offender's driving record.Team members reviewed Vehicle Code law and department policies with theofficers. Reports were simplified for impounds and confusing issues concerninglicense offender arrests were clarified. After the completion of the class, trainers weresent back to their command to instruct the remaining officers in each division.
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Excellence in P.O.P. Nomination17Continuing training is done through a quarterly information guide. Topics areaddressed that assist the officer in the enforcement of the suspended and unlicenseddriver.A team effort that is used frequently consists of researching a computerized listof suspended drivers issued by the DMV. Once a habitual traffic offender is identified,the officers will create a case file for investigation. Rental vehicles are available for thesurveilence of the offenders. The officers determine the offenders travel schedule andwatch to see if the laws are violated. This has resulted in numerous arrests of chronicoffenders.The STOP Team project has been shared with officers throughout thedepartment using the SARA model. This assists officers involved in other POP projectsby demonstrating how resources inside and outside of the department can be foundand used for their project. In addition, STOP Team officers attend various division line-ups to inform officers of any DMV changes and assist officers wherever help is needed.When the Team sees a need that will assist the officer, it responds with support.Recently, problems were encountered when obtaining information on the vehicleimpound report. A rubber stamp was created and distributed by STOP. Whenever avehicle is impounded for a license offense, all the officer has to do is fill in the blanksand the report is complete. This simplifies the officer's job, and administrativepersonnel receive all the information needed to properly process the report.
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Excellence in P.O.P. Nomination18AGENCY AND OFFICER INFORMATION:The San Diego Traffic Offender Program was designed as a response to thechronic license offender. It is the goal of the project to operate until licenseenforcement is no longer needed. Initial cost estimates to the department were$1,042,965. However, since the project became self-funding, the financial impact onthe police department is inconsequential. The project will continue to be monitored ona regular basis with improvements and adjustments made as needed.The Department-wide response of STOP has been phenomenal. Overall, policemanagement has encouraged and supported the STOP Team during its 1 >2 years ofoperation. Officers are consistently conveying news to the STOP Team about theirvarious encounters with the license offender. On numerous occasions, officers havemade a traffic stop addressing the "small-time" license offender only to find a felonyarrest awaiting them.Approximately five months after the program began, two additional personnelwere hired to increase the efficiency of the STOP Team. Code Compliance OfficerJoyce VanDyke was brought on board along with Clerical Aide Sandra Lamb. Joycebecame a key player in the goals of the STOP Team with her extensive Spanishlanguage skills. In addition, Officer VanDyke assumed the responsibilities of the poststorage hearing officer for every vehicle that is impounded for a period of 30 days.Officer VanDyke is absolutely essential in the success of the STOP Team.
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Excellence in P.O.P. Nomination19Clerical Aide Sandra Lamb is crucial in supporting the entire staff of the STOPTeam. Her responsibilities include administrative support of all the STOP Teampersonnel, routing new cases and incoming phone calls, answering questions fromcitizens and completing a multitude of computer related assignments.To date, four police departments in the County of San Diego are in variousstages of operating or planning STOP programs. Several cities throughout the State ofCalifornia are also operating a STOP Team. Similar results in collision reduction wereexperienced by those agencies. Inquiries are constantly received by out-of-stateagencies looking for information about STOP. Information packages have beendeveloped that are sent all over the nation to assist other departments whenestablishing license programs. In 1997, STOP was asked to participate as presentersin the International Problem Oriented Policing Conference.In San Diego, the initial project started from a single traffic stop by one officer.Because of department support and the efforts of numerous personnel throughout theSan Diego Police Traffic Division, the STOP project was initiated.Once the project blueprints were in place, it was the efforts of the STOP Teammembers that made the program a success. The San Diego Traffic Offender Programis an outstanding example of P.O.P. Each individual had a stake in the outcome of theproject. It is the result of an overall team effort combined with innovation and support ofnumerous outside resources that makes STOP a continuing achievement.

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