Montana patrol issues vehicle stop guidelines

HELENA – Each Montana Highway Patrol officer traveling the state’s roads is now required to stop at least one vehicle an hour, the patrol’s chief has confirmed.

Col. Paul Grimstad said the stops, which he called guidelines rather than quotas, are intended to reduce traffic accidents and drunken driving. The work requirement took effect Monday.

“We’re trying to set at least a minimum of one stop per hour so our 170-odd troops out here can maybe make a little more difference,” Grimstad told Lee Newspapers of Montana.

The stops need not result in drivers receiving tickets, Grimstad said.

In December, patrol administrators told officers they must issue a minimum of 12 tickets a year for alcohol-related offenses, such as drunken driving.

Grimstad said reasons for the targets include Montana’s rank as a state with an exceptionally high number of drinking-related traffic deaths. He also cited the 2005 Legislature’s decision to increase the number of Highway Patrol officers and to give officers higher pay raises than other state personnel, in an effort to retain them.

“There is an expectation that they want some results, and we’re trying to gear up for that to show we are worthy of the pay increase and the manpower increase,” Grimstad said.

A new law that legislators passed this year prohibits law enforcement agencies from imposing quotas that specify how many arrests an officer must make, or how many citations he or she must issue. But the law says the term “quota” does not include “use of generally accepted management techniques that employ performance objectives as part of an overall employee evaluation.”

Grimstad said that in evaluating officers, Highway Patrol supervisors will review the stop records and alcohol-related tickets they have issued. If someone is below the target, a supervisor may suggest further training, he said.

Grimstad said the average officer now issues 17 or 18 citations a year for alcohol-related offenses. The average officer and sergeant make 0.88 stops an hour when patrolling the highways, he said.

The guidelines have the support of Attorney General Mike McGrath, who oversees the patrol, said Lynn Solomon, a spokeswoman for McGrath.

Tom Bivins, field representative for the union that represents patrol officers, said the issue was discussed in labor-and-management meetings this spring.

“To my knowledge, the Highway Patrol officers that I represent were OK with performance standards,” said Bivins, who works for the Montana Public Employees Association.