Last year, approximately 20 per cent of traffic tickets in Vancouver were thrown out of court because police officers failed to appear.

However, the Vancouver Police Department says that's an improvement from the two previous years when about 25 per cent of tickets were dismissed.

Const. Jana McGuinness said the department is working to improve its numbers.

"The duties that our officers do on a daily basis sometimes prevent them from being at traffic court," she said.

"Typically, if you are an officer who has traffic court scheduled that day and you're on a major incident or even a traffic stop, something that you can't get away from, there's a chance you will miss traffic court. So we're looking at ways to reduce that and improve compliance with the scheduling, and assist the courts with their scheduling as well."

In the first half of 2009, traffic officers attended court dates 58.7 per cent of the time. That's up from just fewer than 50 per cent in 2007 and 2008.

McGuinness said the department hopes to improve those numbers further.

"There's been a long-standing myth that if you dispute your ticket, the police won't show up," she said.

"[But] that's not the case. We have dedicated officers and patrol officers that, when their duties permit, they will absolutely be at traffic court."