Do you agree with all these people who claim quotas and revenue generation as the only reason for tickets?

Kenneth C

My department doesn't have quotas. As a Sergeant, if I see no activity from an officer for several days, I might have a talk with them. But activity doesn't have to be in the form of traffic citations. As long as they are doing something, building checks, speaking with kids, patrolling neighbors, car stops where they are issuing warnings, I could care less.

I have a friend who works for another local department. They have a motto "Two citations a day keeps the Sergeant away". While not a exactly quota, an officer is expected to issue 2 citations a day to stay off the sergeants bad side. Not a big deal. They have 3 highways in their city. An officer can issue two citations for legit law violations in 20 minutes if they wanted to. I'm sure if an officer pressed the issue, the Sergeant couldn't discipline them for not issuing the citations. But most officers don't have a problem with it because they would generally write more then 2 a shift, even without pressure.

Thats what the public doesn't seem to understand. When people hear things like "An officer has to issue 30 citations in a month", they freak out because 30 seems like a lot. Two summers ago, I worked a state grant for speed enforcement. I wrote 20 citations in one shift on the interstate...The slowest speed I wrote a ticket for was 15 miles an hour over the limit. And on most citations, I reduced the speed I wrote the ticket for to 10 miles an hour to save people money. It is extremely easy to find law violations if you look.

Finally, I have another friend who works for the Kansas Highway Patrol. They have performance standards. (like 4 a shift) But warnings and citations count the same. So there is no pressure from the state to issue a lot of citations if they chose not to.

The issue of quotas is largely based on public ignorance and people simply wanting to believe something without facts to back it up.

Added: BTW: Why shouldn't officers have performance standard?. My department is in a county that has a reputation for having lazy deputies and the sheriff letting them get away with that. Do you want to pay $100,000 (between pay, health insurance, retirement, gas, equipment ect) out of your taxes to an officer that isn't doing anything...like make the roads safer.

Every other job I worked has had performance standards. Why not policing? I agree the whole job shouldn't be focused on tickets, but most accidents are caused by someone breaking a traffic law.........

Urbanian

If EVERYONE thought tickets were quota driven, there would be a huge outcry. Most of us appreciate lunatic drivers being taken off the streets. Most of us don't get tickets very often, and know exactly why when we do. And most of us aren't whiney.

Don't let whiney people upset you. If they weren't whining about tickets, they'd be whining about something else.

CGIV76

Not to disagree with you, but there is such a thing as a quota, and citations are used to generate revenue in many cases. Maybe the wording is different, but the end result is the same thing. Traffic enforcement is part of an Officers job description. How can a trained individual go through a whole day, and not observe a traffic violation?. Possible, not probable. If someone is asked to write a certain amount of citations a week because of statistics. Is that a quota?, or just justifying your existence?. If you are told to write a city instead of a state violation because the fines received do not benefit the city. Isn't that generating revenue?. I have a lot of factual stories, but I don't wish to bother any one with them. Other than for the obvious reasons such as protecting life, limb, and property. There is a quota, otherwise it would never be suggested that a citation be issued. Tickets do generate revenue, otherwise, the fine would never have been invented.

joeanonymous

We are expected to write tickets in my city, absolutely and without a doubt. But this is called doing our job, not a quota.

Enforcing the Ontario Highway Traffic Act has been a proven method of increasing traffic safety and you find quite a few Criminal Code offences (drugs/warrants/breaches of curfew) during traffic stops.

Your ticket giving numbers should inversely proportional to the number of calls you take. If you took very few calls in a month, your ticket numbers should be higher than in months that your call load is high.

No department would EVER set a number as a base quota. The officers and the public would never agree to it.

A little know fact that many civilians don't know is that most police officer don't like handing out tickets. It gives me little pleasure giving a $100 speeding ticket to someone on their way to work. I know that the $100 comes out of their after tax dollars, and many people would find $100 a financial hardship. BUT......this is my job, and as much as I dislike giving tickets sometimes, it does save lives.

So Trooper, the answer to your question is no.

EDIT:
Sensei, I usually ignore your nonsense, but most "regular" citizens have no contact whatsoever with police and do not hate them.
My avatar is a lemur, because I like them and I don't want to use one of those Yahoo avatars

misskate12001

I don't agree with those people. I am able to understand the need to for laws and rules and the enforcement of those rules as necessary to an organized society.

Zachary O

TruTV has a show called "Speeders." I love that show. I'm attending school for criminal justice and one thing I look forward, (among many others) is the ridiculous people who blame cops for there inability to obey simple traffic laws. Police officers are amazing, and I would never disrespect one. After all, most do what they do to protect the rest of us.

No, I don't agree.

The reason for tickets is this:

People don't obey the traffic laws and get caught.....

Words Twice

Yes, of course they do. They have created so many laws and regulations that it's practically impossible to go a day without violating at least one. To suggest otherwise is insulting everyone's intelligence.

Let me ask you this: if you went a week without writing a single ticket, wouldn't your supervisor ask you what was wrong?

Let me ask you another thing: What do you think about asset forfeiture laws?

Acier et Dentelle Bleu

I agree with Kenneth C that there are performance standards.
If there are accidents in my patrol area caused by excessive speed, and I am not writing speeding tickets, my Patrol Sergeant and eventually my Captain are going to want to know what I am doing when I am not busy racing from call to call (to call, to call, ad infinitum).

Besides, I like to write tickets.
If you won't slow down and obey the law, then maybe a little smack upside your wallet will get you to pay attention.

jami

I work for a PD and enter the tickets in the system. There is no quota. I think it's humurous when people insist that there is.

It's like when you buy a car, you see a bunch of that car after the fact. You just think you see more cruisers on the road later in the month. Those guys are on shift and have the same schedule all month!

I think that most people that have bad attitudes towards cops are just uspet when they've been caught. If I got pulled over for a traffic violation I'd just realize that the cop is doing his job. If he wasn't out there and someone sped and caused an accident, everyone would be saying, "Where was he at???" Cops can't win, if they do their job people are angry with them. If they're not there to prevent a crime people are angry that they weren't there.

I got pulled over in the city I work for, I was speeding at 3 a.m. (sober as I was the designated driver for a friend's bachelorette party). I got off with a verbal warning but I was already willing to accept the fact that I did speed and if the officer decided to give me a ticket I deserved it.

tnfarmgirl

I don't know that you are missing anything- people that complain about police officers writing tickets are missing the fact that traffic laws exist to keep us all safe and that enforcement of these laws are to protect everyone on the roads.

Sheila V

No, I do not agree. I have been a cop for about 5 years now and I have never been told I have a quota. And I have never been told I have to write a certain amount.

And as far as revenue: the only people who generate any type of revenue off of the tickets that are written are the defense attorney's.

But let's cut to the heart of the matter: if people weren't mad about getting caught, the one time out of a 1,000 they break the law, this wouldn't even be an issue.

caleet

I do not agree with those people. Most people forget that driving is a privilege, not a right.

I have worked full time in Fire/EMS for 17 years ... have tons of friends who are in law enforcement. None of them speak of quotas and revenue. They merely enforce traffic laws as they happen. I do know that during down time during the shift that an officer may focus on traffic violators ... namely speeders. But its hardly for revenue or quotas and more of a "you better have something to show for your down time on your log for the day". Darn those guys at the top of the chain of command ... Its all thier fault! LOL!

Whipper Snapper!

People would just rather blame someone else then take responsibility for their own actions. They know they screwed up but would never admit it.

They just use that excuse to point a finger.

Cort. WPD

No, I don't agree with all the people who claimed quotas exist. People can believe what they want, but quotas are illegal, period.

2 Cupcakes

No
No, I don't know it, though I susspected it was a lot of hearsay.
You cops have a lot more rules to follow than the citizens, I'm sure. Like I don't have to know the drunk driving law, because I don't drink.
When I was on the ambulance, the county cops were always there to help us and we always needed them.
If people would just follow the laws they would not get in trouble. They need to grow up!
You aren't missing it, they are.

axsooted

i know some police officers and your right, technically they don't have a ticket quota. but the way they tell it you better not come in and not write any in a month.

joseph b

I like how people will always find a reason to show they are not in the wrong, when getting a ticket. I have even been told, "It is unfair, you guys are ALWAYS at a certain spot everyday when I get off work." My reply, "Well, you know we are there,we are in plain view, you know the speed limit, and you know we are running radar, so how stupid is it to speed during that time?" They never see the logic....

SWT

my department does not have quotas, unlike the California Highway Patrol

GetRidOfStinkySmells

Police Officers should have one quota and that is to arrest as many violators as possible.
I don't know about the rest of you, but when I see a Police officer on the road...I feel safer.

Cali9

The general public does think that there is a "quota". Whether it's called performance standards, citation goals, mandated citation minimums or maximums or what ever name it is put under. Citations generate revenue for local and state governments and it is part of the job description of local police officers, community service officers and highway patrol.
As a non-law enforcement employee, I realize that there are laws that need to be abided by. I also know that I shouldn't eat too many sweets as it will damage my teeth and affect my weight. I also realize I should bath everyday to keep my own personal hygiene up and not to affect my surrounding friends and family. However, I have on occasion skipped a shower and a number of times eaten to much candy. We are human and sometimes we don't follow the rules when we should. I think you are being too harsh with your "open book" comments etc....Be honest, you do have a quota, a standard or minimum number of citations you must issue monthly.

stingjam

When you do certain kinds of 'commercial' driving, as a person who has to drive 20 times more miles per year than the average individual, you get to see the world differently.

With all due respect Trooper, two of the three times that i recieved 'unjust' speeding tickets, it was near the end of the month (the last few days of the month). By 'unjust', i simply mean that I was doing LESS than the speed limit (75kph in a 80) and yet got tickets saying i was doing well over the limit (as high as125kph in one instance).

The third instance wasn't really 'unjust'. I was doing 60kph in an 50kph zone, but the COP showed me a device that said 85 kph. I will admit that I was STILL speeding so i cant cry the same way, but the fact is that the GUN showed something factually IMPOSSIBLE.

I am NOT in the USA, but the principle is still the same. Too many officers on (Y!A and elsewhere) assume that all the OTHER officers in the streets follow the same rules. I AM ABSOLUTELY SURE that some don't, and that is EXACTLY why there are people on here who are so passionate about the traffic ticket system being unfair.

Its hard to say that NO police in the USA or anywhere else in the world have 'qoutas' when the people driving the most see evidence to suggest that, at least unofficially, there IS a qouta in some places.

Personally, i dont count on the 'judge' or the officers or the 'DMV' book to avoid tickets or to be safe. That alone WILL NOT WORK. For me true 'safe driving' includes deliberate ticket avoidance techniques of every kind imaginable, in addition to all the things you do to protect life.

SHAY

I think that people like to rationalize them breaking the law by pointing fingers at others. My b/f who is in LE says the best way to get out of a ticket is not break the law.

teamgeo101

Unfortunately, it's not only mind altering substances (both legal and illegal) that affect the function of some people, but the lack of the basic gray matter function. Someone once said : If you don't want people to know how really stupid you are. you only need to keep your mouth shut.

ozzie angel

no i do not agree. most police officers write tickets because you are breaking the law. if you break the law then you deserve to pay the penalty. however there are some people who dont break the law and get a ticket anyway that they have to fight in court to prove they are innocent. admitidly they are few and far between but because of the ones that complaine and are guilty the innocent ones have trouble fighting it. i guess it depends on which country you live in too.

ansilatoms

I'm betting that quotas vary from place to place, and station to station, and are labeled or enforced in many ways. Yes, I acknowledge that it is unlikely that an officer wouldn't encounter a certain number of violations in any given period, but having a requirement for a specific number also denys the possibility that any time could occur when people actually follow the rules. Is that right? That would tend to support the accusation that the laws are set up to be such that it's impossible to avoid violating SOME law just by driving. I personally have no problem with speeding tickets issued by moving patrolmen...I was ticketed by one such a couple years ago...but stationary speedtraps bother me, because the officer isn't moving about, and therefore isn't keeping much of an eye out for anything I'm really concerned about, such as drunk drivers, carjackings, robberys, etc. I personally don't care about the guy or gal going 15 miles over the speed limit, even though I know that speeding in that way does nothing to save any time on any trip short of several hundred miles. What I'm concerned about are the drivers weaving in and out of traffic, or riding the tail of the car in front of them, or trying to multitask while driving. To get those you have to be moving...and you can still get a good performance review.

KaptKos

Has anyone ever had an "open book" test in school?

I was working part time for a telecom company near
Gary, IN before getting back into my field / career
after 6 months of unemployment.

This telecom company had 3 weeks of training for new
people and I started in a class of 12 people. By the third
week only 5 of us remained because the others couldn't pass
the weekly tests which were Open Book / Open Notes!!!

Remember, this is Gary, INDIANA for you!!!!!

:D

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