Australia Today

SA Police Offered a $30 Gift Card to Whichever Officer Issued the Most Traffic Fines

The police force has since retracted the incentive, saying it goes against official policy, and insisted that it has "no quotas" for fines.
Gavin Butler
Melbourne, AU
Police issuing fines
Not the police officers alluded to in the article. Image via YouTube/ThumperBros (edited)

A senior member of the South Australia Police force (SAPOL) recently offered a prize, in the form of a $30 Coles Myer Gift Card, to whichever patrol officer issued the most traffic and speeding fines over a five-day period. The incentive was sent around in an email in the lead-up to a one week road safety blitz, known as Operation Fatal Distraction, which runs from Monday to Friday this week and targets inattentive drivers—especially those using their mobile phones.

Advertisement

SAPOL has since been forced to retract said email, admitting to the blunder and informing officers that the incentive goes against official policy.

“A SAPOL manager recently directed an email to some staff offering an incentive to the police officer who made the greatest contribution to road safety by way of Traffic Infringement Notice Expiations or Cautions issued as a part of the current traffic operation ‘Operation Fatal Distraction’,” the police force said in a statement.

“The incentive offered was a gift card purchased by the manager from their own funds. Such a practice is not SAPOL policy and is not permitted. The email instruction has been recalled and SAPOL staff have been advised that the advice in the email is not to be actioned and is contrary to SAPOL’s policy and practices.”

It also insisted that “SAPOL has no quotas for the issuing of expiation notices and never has.” Nonetheless, the fact that senior police force managers are dangling gift card incentives for officers to hand out fines is troubling for fairly obvious reasons. Gamifying law enforcement by introducing an element of competition into the mix does little to inspire faith in what is already a fairly uninspiring institution.

"[It] just sends the wrong message to road users, I'm really disappointed to hear this," SA Police Minister Corey Wingard told the ABC. "We want to make sure that people are safe on our roads but this is not a competition for SAPOL… It's not about revenue raising, this is making sure we change behaviour on the roads to make sure people are safe.

"It's not acceptable and South Australians don't accept that behaviour."

Follow Gavin on Twitter or Instagram

Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.