A bill restricting an employer's ability to consider traffic citation information in an officer’s performance evaluation moves onto the House for consideration.

SB 6316 limits factors for consideration in reviewing a police officer’s performance. The bill specifically eliminates from consideration:

• The number of citations issued by an officer for traffic infractions; and
• The monetary amount of penalties assessed for the traffic infractions.

This proposal would severely impact a police department’s ability to consider all factors of an officer’s performance. This would be detrimental to provide a complete evaluation of an officer and hamper potential measures like the need for additional training or even discipline. Under the conditions created in this bill, a police department could not consider the number of traffic citations issued by an officer that sought an assignment as a traffic officer, nor could they consider the number of traffic citations issued in a situation where an officer is suspected of inappropriate racial profiling.

Dates to remember

SB 6316 is scheduled for public hearing in the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee at 1:30 pm on Monday, February 24.