05:44 PM CDT on Friday, October 22, 2004

By Carolyn Campbell / 11 News

Dozens of Houston police officers are being pulled off the street next week and some say they're being punished for writing too few traffic tickets.

KHOU

Some officers say they're being punished because they didn't meet a ticket quota.

An officer with a radar gun is probably the last thing you want to see if you're speeding. But writing tickets is one way officers are measured by their supervisors.

Patrol officers are also expected to respond to citizens' calls, make arrests and investigate crimes.

Approximately 30 patrol officers will be taken off the streets on Monday because their supervisors say they're not productive enough.

"We want to ensure that the taxpayers get full value for their dollar," said HPD Lt. Robert Manzo.

The low-performing officers in every sub-station will be reassigned for 20 days to answer non-emergency calls from citizens in the Teleserve Division.

"This was not a decision that was arrived at lightly," said Manzo. "We took great deal of effort to ensure that this process was done as fairly as could possibly have been done."

Teleserve usually is staffed by officers who have been injured or assigned to desk duty.

"We can't afford to lose any more people out of the patrol loop," said Hans Marticiuc, head of the Houston Patrol Officers Union.

"We don't believe citizens will lose...," argued Manzo.

But Marticiuc questions the department's method of getting officers to work harder.

"Taking people out of patrol doesn't make any sense. There's got to be better ways to motivate people," Marticiuc said.

Some officers consider the move punishment, not motivation.

"I don't know that I would want to characterize it as punishment," argued Manzo."This is an attempt by the department to ensure that everyone is being as productive as they need to be."