Combat traffic

Blog #28

In our suburban paradise, traffic has been noticeably increasing for a while, always aggressive and often angry. I’ve heard it referred to as combat traffic. We ride out of an east-side suburb of Columbus, Ohio. 

It used to be that five minutes east or north east and we were in rural Ohio with low traffic and rolling fields. These days we have to ride much further to be free of heavy traffic.

Massive development in neighboring communities and the trend of building multi unit apartment complexes on every available plot of ground promises traffic will become much heavier and probably more aggressive.

Inside our city, traffic is heavier, aggressive and often angry. My friends who live on cross-through streets note that traffic speeds far exceed the posted limit and often, aggressive drivers actually pass slower cars on their street. I’ve seen this nasty behavior myself, nearly every week. On city traffic light intersections, I often watch as 4-6 cars continue through the light after it turns red.

In suburban America there’s not much to be done about the increase of pass through traffic, though, in other communities, I have seen traffic calming efforts that create very positive change: trees, lane separating islands, creative road striping, etc. These techniques make the community safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. 

When it comes to aggressive, angry driving behavior, there’s much that can be done and it falls squarely in the lap of the leaders of the suburban police department, but it requires courageous police leaders, willing to motivate officers to a higher level of performance. Some officers will push back.

Suburban voters in the Columbus metro area pay a high tax rate to live here and our taxes, property and otherwise, only promise to increase. It is not to much to demand a fair, professional, responsive, and effective police effort. Unfortunately that is easier said than done.

I personally not only ride my motorcycle through this town, but I also ride a bicycle many early mornings on a nine mile course that intersects the city from one end to another. I usually ride right at sun up, the beginning of rush hour traffic and after over 20 years as a deputy police chief and police chief, I seek out police activity. I rarely see any, but it’s a big city. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, they may be on calls for service or traffic stops elsewhere. I do dodge aggressive and often angry drivers.

The problem is two fold. Police officers are human. They all start the profession with great enthusiasm and desire to do well, but at some point some officers get bored, some feel beaten down, and gravitate to doing the minimum effort required to get by, checking their retirement fund daily. It’s our human nature. There’s an argument to be made that retirement should be at 20 years instead of 25. It can be a tough job and depending on what an officer is exposed to, burn out and PTSD can be very real. I am not unsympathetic.

Over the years, a few officers become more loyal to the labor organization than to their agency or community. Poor leadership sometimes contributes to that shift.

It takes consistent traffic enforcement to change driving behavior in a community. That means a lot of traffic stops, a lot of friendly warnings, some citations, and yes, paperwork when a traffic stop uncovers an arrest warrant, unlicensed driver, etc. Some officers simply don’t want to work that hard so they avoid the traffic stops.
I believe police work is a calling. Officers that don’t have or lose that calling stand the risk of being more called to the high pay and great government benefits, but not so much to the community service, especially over the long haul. In other words, they don’t have much quality of life on the job, but they can’t replace the pay and benefits anywhere else. They feel stuck and they’re not happy. Like I said, they’re human.

Every police leader knows that good traffic stops are foundational to community safety: not necessarily citations and certainly not quotas, but consistent traffic stops for traffic or equipment violations. That is a suburban cops bread and butter.  Many high profile cases have been solved across this country because a police officer made a seemingly low profile traffic stop.

The second problem is ineffective, often political leadership within the police department.
No matter how many levels of command the chief creates to distance themselves from holding officers accountable, the chief owns it. The buck stops at the police chiefs desk. Good chiefs accept that as part of the job.

If you are concerned about the crime or traffic trends in your town, hold the police chief to account. Again, good chiefs accept and even welcome the input. That’s why they make the big bucks. Good police chiefs are responsive to community input and concerns.

Police agencies, in turn, need to hold their officers accountable for their performance. Not quotas, but total performance. Every officer should be able to speak to how they spent their shift: dispatched runs, traffic stops, arrests, business checks, special assignments, etc. First line supervisors need to hold officers accountable without bias or favoritism. Again, easier said than done.

One of the local police chiefs I know and have great respect for was just slandered in the local Columbus rag because the labor organization organized a vote of no confidence amongst the officers in his agency. At the core of this effort are a few officers who resent the chiefs leadership requirements, a labor organization willing to do whatever it takes to keep members paying dues (Ohio is a right to work state) and a news outlet always willing to attack strong police leadership.

This police chief holds his officers accountable for their behavior and performance. Over the years he’s won major challenges from the labor organization. So, instead of filing grievances in accordance with their contract, they take the cheap easier shot and organize a vote of no confidence hoping it will play well with the elected people and the community.

This is what a police chief can get when they force their officers to perform. I hope the community and elected politicians rally around the chief. You can bet every weaker police Chief in our area hears the labor organizations message loud and clear: “Defy us and we will organize a vote of no confidence and the local media will announce it far and wide. You think you run that agency, but it is us who are in charge.”

We already have no shortage of police chiefs unwilling to hold their officers accountable. Some become political, courting elected council members behind the mayor’s back, trying to build enough political capital in order to weather political storms. Weak mayors tolerate this because they don’t want to make waves. With all this back door politicking, the Chief has little time left to create accountability systems that force officers to do the job they took an oath to do. My experience has been that officers have a higher quality of life on the job when they are held accountable for their performance. 

All that to say this, if you don’t like the crime and traffic trends in your community, let your mayor or city manager, and city council know about it. That’s your right and duty as a responsible member of the community. If you don’t like their response, vote accordingly.
And always be suspect of statistics. Someone said, “There’s lies, damned lies, and statistics.” I spent a career watching artful politicians use crafted statistics to convince people they weren’t really seeing what they thought they were seeing. “Don’t trust your eyes. Trust my statistics.”

I also need to say, I have great respect for hardworking, dedicated, loyal and professional police officers. There are a bunch of them out there and I personally know many of them in my community. I also have not forgotten the great gains in pay, benefits and work environment won by the labor organization. Unfortunately, the “right to work” environment has pushed them to efforts that can hurt communities, IMHO, in order to keep members on board. 

Back to biking: And finally, watch what is in front of you, close and far. Studies show that the vast majority of motorcycle crashes happen when a biker runs into the vehicle in front of them. More traffic means more sudden stops. Keep your eyes out front. We ride in an era of combat driving. 

Pray for the law enforcement officers and for the elected and non elected leaders in your community.

May God bless you, keep you sharp and attentive and bring you home safely.