WendyMcElroy.com

A hat tip to Lee K. for forwarding the following news item from the Los Angles Times (Oct. 4th): Deputies compete in arrest contests. "Southeast L.A. competitions were meant to boost morale....One recent competition, described in an internal Sheriff's Department e-mail obtained by The Times, was called 'Operation Any Booking.' The object was to arrest as many people as possible within a specific 24-hour period. Other one-day competitions have included 'Operation Vehicle Impound,' a contest aimed at seizing as many cars as possible. And another challenged deputies to see how many gang members and other suspected criminals could be stopped and questioned."

The problem? -- in case it is not obvious. "Police accountability experts, civil libertarians and defense attorneys condemned the practice, saying that it trivialized traumatic encounters such as arrests and having a car impounded, and raised questions about deputies' motives in taking such actions. Hubert Williams, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Police Foundation" stated, "The arrest is one of the most potent tools in the possession of law enforcement and should be used with great thought. It's not a competition or a game."

The email obtained by the LA Times read:

From: Tatreau, James D.
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 3:26 PM
To: Lakewood Deputies
Subject: Team Lakewood Challenge (August 2007)
The next challenge will be on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 -- Operation Any Booking. The 24-hour operation will be an "Any Booking" operation and will count any "bookable" arrests (field cite outs do not count). Again, the five cities will be competing with each other. The total bookings will be averaged with the number of personnel working each specific city during that day. That gives each city a fair chance at "winning" the challenge. Once again, SAO deputies are encourge to participate.
Lt. Jim Tatreau
Lakewood Station