The Inspector General of Baltimore City has launched an investigation into the “disappearing ticket” issued to a veteran city councilwoman last year.
The ticket issued to Councilwoman Rochelle “Rikki “ Spector was not entered into the court docket for nearly six months, despite state laws requiring the agency to do so.
The Department of Transportation’s conducted an internal investigation last year into the matter, but Inspector General Hilton Green is not satisfied with the department’s findings.
“I will be looking at interviews with employees and details of the department’s own investigation before deciding what to do,” Green told The Examiner. “Once I look over everything I will determine whether or not more needs to be done.”
Spector was cited for “failure to obey” a traffic officer in November of 2007 after she allegedly refused an officer’s order to turn at a downtown intersection on the corner of Lombard and South Streets.
Spector disputed the validity of the ticket in an interview last year with the Examiner, claiming she was late for a meeting and that the traffic enforcement officer was rude
“When a council person sees a [law enforcement] person not dealing well with the public, we go the next step,” Spector said. “My purpose for giving [the ticket] to transportation was to let them know who this person was. That was my purpose for calling. These agents need more training.”
But after Specter brought the ticket to the DOT, it never made it into court records, a violation of state law, which clearly mandates moving violations be entered onto the docket promptly. Failure to enter a citation into court records is deemed “official misconduct,” a misdemeanor under state law, according to state law.
DOT officials claimed at the time the ticket was abated.
“The investigation revealed that there was a breakdown in communication between the issuing officer and the recipient of the citation,” said DOT spokeswoman Adrienne Barnes. “It was determined that the recipient did not understand the directive and was unclear as to what they were told to do. The citation was thereby recommended for abatement by filing the appropriate reports.”
After series of stories in The Examiner revealing the ticket was missing, the agency eventually decided to enter the citation into court records. The ticket was subsequently dismissed after the agent failed to appear.
Now Green said he is reviewing the process that lead to the abatement of the ticket. “We will give this a thorough review,” Green said.
Department of transportation officials declined to comment about Green’s investigation.
Spector said she considers the matter to be settled.
“They surely did respond to me, and I surely did have my opportunity to tell it to the judge.”
