To Serve & Ticket

Meet Tampa Police Department Sargent Gene Strickland. Valiantly serving and protecting his ticket quota.

In a May 2005 memo, Strickland told his supervisors that he had directed his squad to manipulate traffic signals at three Tampa Heights intersections with a traffic control device called a "pickle" that allows the user to dictate how long a light stays red.

The operation took place on four or five occasions stretching back to 2004, he said.

Officers kept the stoplights at each intersection red long enough for them to check the license plates of cars and see if they were stolen.

Apparently, Strickland and his fellow officers need to brush up on the 4th amendment.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.