Theres that rumor that cops have to meet a certain quota for tickets written every month so when it gets close to the end of the month your more likely to get pulled over. is that true or is it just a rumor ? any cops out there willing to answer?
2006-07-27 05:05:51 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
Quota's all depend on the state. I was a police officer in PA for 15yrs. Quota's are illegal. If a police department is found guilty of having a quota system, then all monies received from fines for 5yrs years prior are to be paid back. However, when I moved to NY, certain Police Departments did have a quota system and it was legal. It was considered a tool that the department used to evaluate the job performance of the officers.
My personal opinion as a police officer, is that they should be illegal. By making it mandatory to cite a certain number of drivers per month takes away from the officers discretion and restricts him or her from being a person and making a personal judgement. Furthermore, depending on the daily work load an officer may not be able to issue the required number of citations and it would reflect poorly on him.
2006-07-27 06:14:24 · answer #1 · answered by scheib65 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Some places, maybe, but in Alabama they are illegal. Our department just tells the officers specifically assigned to traffic duty that they need a certain number of contacts per day. The number is pretty low (single digits) and can be filled by giving tickets, giving written warnings, working an accident, or making an arrest. And again, it's per day, and even if they don't meet it, the punishment is pretty much just a "Shame on you, do better tomorrow."
There are enough people out there who run red lights, stop signs, speed, etc., in front of them that they almost never have to actually look for someone to write a ticket to.
What is more likely is that the department received a lot of citizens complaining about cars speeding in the area that they set up a zero-tolerance detail in that area. That means more officers, more traffic stops, all tickets, no warnings. If it happens around the end of the month, and you weren't one of the ones complaining in the first place, it might seem like they are just doing it for the tickets, when they are really doing it because they were asked to by the people who live there.
2006-07-27 14:31:09 · answer #2 · answered by RJ 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Where I used to work there was no official quota but the supervisor did watch how many tickets the highway patrol members were handing out. It is used simply to make sure each officer is doing his job. For example, if you have ten officers in the unit and nine of them write 100 tickets each in a one month period but the tenth member only writes 20 tickets in the same time frame, you may wonder what the tenth officer was doing with his time. Now if the officer can show that he only wrote 20 tickets but also had four drug seizures and responded to five accidents, then there is no problem. It's all just about making sure your employees are being productive.
2006-07-27 14:02:07 · answer #3 · answered by Wayne W 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No set quotas - just activity levels. If you are working cruising enforcement details, you are expected to show zero tolerance to cruising on the strip. It that means writing 100 tickets that night, then you will.
Some Southern states have unwritten quotas. Namely the poorer counties who depend more on the fine structure to fund local governments. (they basically get around quota laws by writing the budget in advance counting on a fix amount of money from fines - how do they expect to collect on future money derived from tickets without actually having an effective quota??)
It also depends on what your primary duty is. Most cops are busy enough with domestic disputes to write many tickets. Only those who are specially designated traffic officers have that kind of pressure.
2006-07-27 15:57:29 · answer #4 · answered by Mr. PhD 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I know for a fact that in NYC there is a quota for cops to hand out a certain number of tickets. The quota is very low and they generally try to get them out of the way att the beginning of the month.
2006-07-27 12:34:00 · answer #5 · answered by ovrwrkdlawyr 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There isn't a quota per se, but the amount of citations police officers give out is tallied. The reasoning behind it is that if one officers has only given out 2 tickets that month, then they apparently aren't doing their job right, especially if they live in a big city.
2006-07-27 15:26:22 · answer #6 · answered by Shawnie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Of course the is not an Official Quota, but alot of stations play a game with each other under the table.....well, sometimes its written on a board too, lol. Dont worry about it, just pay the ticket.
2006-07-27 12:13:20 · answer #7 · answered by jon 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I dated a cop once who said that there is no quota. I think someone just got a lot of tickets at the end of the month and came up with that theory and voila - an ubran legend was born.
2006-07-27 12:09:24 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, they do have a public contact quota in some areas, and of course that will lead to citations. It is in the job description, say hi and pass out citations.
2006-07-27 12:08:55 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that citations are based mostly on areas where accidents have occurred more often. They might be encouraged to write more citations at certain times when drug trafficking might be suspected on certain roads. Speeding is just one small reason for them to pull people over.
2006-07-27 12:09:19 · answer #10 · answered by Fantasy Girl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋