http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...ts.2b18ec7.html
Dallas officers asked some to sign blank tickets, inquiry finds
2 Dallas officers, who had been cleared, wrote in offenses later, police find Dallas: In citing habitual offenders, two policemen wrote in offenses later
12:00 AM CST on Saturday, December 15, 2007
By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
teiserer@dallasnews.com
Dallas police investigators have concluded that two officers made homeless people, prostitutes and other habitual violators sign blank citations so that the officers could fill out the tickets later with whatever offenses they chose.
[Click image for a larger version] CREDITHERE
MICHAEL AINSWORTH/DMN
In an interview with The News, R.B. Barton says he was regularly asked to sign blank tickets by Senior Cpl. Timothy Stecker. Senior Cpl. Jeffrey Nelson also was found to have used blank citations.
One of the two officers, Senior Cpl. Timothy Stecker, had earlier been cleared of any serious wrongdoing related to his ticket-writing practices. The other, Senior Cpl. Jeffrey Nelson, is already on restricted duty as he awaits possible disciplinary action for engaging in a pattern of misconduct related to ticket writing.
Several people have told investigators that Cpls. Stecker and Nelson made them sign blank citations while working overnight patrol shifts in Old East Dallas.
"They had me signing blank tickets every time they seen me," R.B. Barton, who was homeless until recently, said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. "They said it was 'speed writing.' That's just where you sign the ticket and they'll fill it out later."
Another Dallas police officer backed up Mr. Barton's story, telling investigators that he was a witness when Cpl. Stecker made Mr. Barton sign a blank citation this year. He said Cpl. Nelson also watched that incident.
Cpl. Stecker admitted to investigators that he occasionally had Mr. Barton sign blank citations but said he did so as a "courtesy" because Mr. Barton often did not want to wait around for his copies. . . .