Sheriff Hopeful In Va. Says He Dismissed Tickets

By Bill Brubaker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 28, 2007

Here's something usually missing in the final stretch of a hot sheriff's race: a candidate who admits he has fixed tickets for friends of fellow officers.

"I've fixed many tickets," said Gregory J. Ahlemann, a Republican who is trying to unseat longtime Loudoun County Sheriff Stephen O. Simpson (I) in the Nov. 6 election.

Ahlemann, a pastor's son and former Loudoun deputy who promises to "restore integrity" to the sheriff's office, said he also asked fellow deputies to tear up traffic tickets issued to his friends, but never for offenses more serious than speeding.

"I would go to them and say, 'Do you have a problem getting rid of it?' " Ahlemann said in a recent interview, contending that ticket-fixing is a "pretty common occurrence in law enforcement."

Most jurisdictions provide broad latitude in writing tickets, and there is generally no prohibition against fixing them, but law enforcement officials say the practice is not condoned -- and almost never publicly acknowledged.

If elected, Ahlemann, who left the sheriff's department in January to run his first political campaign, said he will not discourage deputies from fixing speeding tickets for friends of fellow officers. "You have to trust your deputies enough to use their discretion," he said. "Because we trust them with deadly force carrying a firearm on their hip, I don't think you can second-guess everything they do."

Ahlemann, 37, opened the door to the issue in January, when he accused a Loudoun sheriff's official of fixing a ticket for a friend who had been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, an allegation Simpson denied.

Asked whether ticket-fixing goes on in his department, Simpson said, "Does it happen? Probably, yes." Has he ever fixed a ticket during his 34 years in the business? "No," he said, adding: "Did I many years ago as a rookie? I don't recall." But Simpson, 53, who has been Loudoun's sheriff since 1996, said officers also routinely give breaks to people who have no ties to law enforcement.

Michael E. George, 54, the Democratic candidate and a former narcotics and gang-unit supervisor in the Fairfax County Police Department, said he never fixed a ticket during 22 years in law enforcement. "It's done, but it's not a sound practice," he said.

From agency to agency, there are philosophical disagreements over whether officers sworn to uphold the law should be playing favorites with each other, their friends and family members. Loudoun and Fairfax, like many localities, have no prohibitions against fixing tickets, because administrators say officers need discretion to do their jobs.

Throughout law enforcement, there is debate over how common the practice is and whether tearing up tickets, even for offenses such as running red lights, should be done at all.

Loudoun's chief prosecutor, for one, isn't a fan of playing favorites.

"You have to be even-handed with everyone. The law has to be administered equally," said James E. Plowman (R), the commonwealth's attorney. "I just don't think that because you're a friend of a police officer you should never get a ticket. My 83-year-old grandmother got a ticket. She was in our court system. If I ever was going to show favoritism, it would have been to my 83-year-old grandmother. But she paid her fine."

Although some law enforcement agencies disavow any knowledge of ticket-fixing -- "I don't think that's a deal with us here," D.C. police spokesman Junis Fletcher said -- others say it's an age-old practice, fueled by camaraderie among officers and the discretion they have.

"It would be almost ludicrous to say it hasn't happened," said Lt. Chris Marsh, commander of the Fairfax Police Department's internal investigations unit. "That's just like asking, have officers ever speeded in their cruisers when they shouldn't have? I'm sure that's happened, too."

Fixing a ticket is relatively easy, Ahlemann said. An officer generally turns in tickets at the end of a shift. If a ticket is torn up before it is turned in, there is no record that it was ever written. In most jurisdictions in the Washington region, police enforce traffic laws and investigate crimes. In Loudoun, the lead law enforcement agency is the sheriff's office.

Loudoun Deputy Brian Curtis, who heads the Police Benevolent Association chapter in the county, said "there's no doubt" tickets are fixed in his department and in many others. "I'm a fourth-generation law enforcement officer," he said. "This has gone on since the beginning of time."

Some officers also say that, as a professional courtesy, they refuse to give minor traffic tickets to fellow officers.

Ahlemann spent 10 years as a Loudoun sheriff's deputy, earning a reputation as one of the department's most prolific ticket writers. But last year, he began saying that high-ranking officers were playing favorites in personnel decisions and in how they handled tickets issued to prominent or well-connected Loudoun residents for serious offenses.

He cited one case in September 2006 in which a western Loudoun man faced possible jail time after being charged with driving while intoxicated, eluding police and refusing to take a blood alcohol test. The charge was reduced to public drunkenness, which carries a $50 fine, because the motorist was a friend of a high-ranking sheriff's official, Ahlemann said.

Simpson said his agency investigated the reduced charge and found that the case had been handled properly.

In late summer, after defeating Simpson for the Republican nomination, Ahlemann distributed copies of the complaint against the motorist to about 100 people at a Republican Party meeting. The complaint contained personal information about the man, a prominent farmer, including his address, birth date and Social Security number.

"That blew my mind," Simpson said. "We give an hour-long program at senior centers and homeowner association meetings about identity theft, and one of the biggest things we talk about is securing your Social Security number."

Ahlemann said he shared a document that was available to the general public. "Anybody could pay 50 cents to the court clerk and get the same document," he said.

Loudoun deputy Curtis said the public doesn't understand the depth of the bond among officers. "It's a little different than the guys who maybe work at AOL," said Curtis, whose association has endorsed George, the Democratic candidate. "We're more like a brotherhood. You know, we're out here 24/7 risking our lives. We try to look out for each other." That's why officers who commit minor traffic offenses deserve a break, he said.

With Election Day approaching, Ahlemann said he thinks his candor in discussing ticket-fixing could taint him in the eyes of some voters.

"If people feel like because I, you know, let people off tickets because they were friends of another officer and they feel like that is a problem, that they can't elect me, then that's their choice," he said. "You know, I mean, I just -- I come to you with what I got."