Pass this officer in a hurry and you'll pay
The top citations officer also wrote 121 tickets for DUIs last year. His goal now: to get them all.
By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 8, 2001
[Times photo: Scott Keeler]
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Pinellas Park police Officer John McNeil is the star of the five-member dedicated traffic unit, which averages 1,300 tickets a month. The City Council is considering expanding the unit.
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PINELLAS PARK -- Police Officer John McNeil remembers the night he saw a woman speeding down the road and didn't write a ticket.
"This lady wouldn't stop," McNeil said. "I've got the lights, the sirens, everything."
McNeil followed her until she pulled into the driveway of a house and hopped out of her car. As she ran toward the house, McNeil realized why she was speeding.
"She was obviously sick," McNeil said. "I just backed off. . . . That was probably the most bizarre thing that ever happened."
That was one of the rare times McNeil decided not to write a ticket to someone who was speeding. McNeil's aggressiveness at writing tickets for speeding and DUIs has earned him statewide awards two years' running for issuing the most citations.
"The goal is 100 (DUIs) at least," he said. "I got 121 last year. That's 10 more than the year before."
Even so, McNeil is not satisfied.
"I don't want just 100 DUIs off the road, I want all of them," he said, "To me, that's the most deadly thing I stop."
McNeil is one of the five members of the Pinellas Park Police Department's dedicated traffic unit. The department has always had patrol officers, but about three years ago, in response to complaints from residents about speeders, the City Council authorized funds to create the dedicated traffic unit.
The unit began with three officers, expanded to its current five and, if the proposed budget passes, will get three more officers and a sergeant in the 2001-02 budget year.
The increased funding indicates how pleased council members are with the results of the unit, which writes an average of 1,300 tickets each month.
"Look at the numbers. They're staggering," Pinellas Park council member Rick Butler said. "It's unbelievable."
And McNeil is the undisputed star of the unit. If you speed in Pinellas Park and McNeil's around, he's likely to get you.
"He's a great guy. He's a very, very good police officer," Butler said. "He is very, very efficient."
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