Is it true that the police must give out a certain amount of tickets each month???

trooper3316

Quotas are unconstitutional, the public would not tolerate them, and police unions do not like them either.

You can be, however, compared to the average of the department. If you are consistently lower, they may question what you are doing with your time. This is not a set number, it is established by how many tickets the entire department writes.

Departments are also prohibited for disciplining someone for low ticket numbers.

Here is an article about NYPD, they filed and won a grievance when the city tried a quota, disguised as "productivity goals". The arbitrator also ruled in favor of the union when an officer received a poor evaluation from low ticket production.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/20/nyregion/20police.html

Dr Zoidberg

Yes. 3.5 daily average during day and evening shift, 2.5 on graveyards. My last department, anyway. Anyone tells you they don't have a "quota" (it's not called that, but...) is FOS.

CGIV76

Since no one ever believes the real answer, I'm going to say yes. I never had a quota, I wrote as many as I wanted. Not writing citations, would be like saying, I've never seen anyone commit a traffic violation. Issuing citations is just part of the job.

â’¸â’ºâ“‡â’·â’ºâ“‡â“Šâ“ˆ

no the do not have quotas. its just something people say when they feel they feel they didn't deserve a ticket

TxTopCop

Not true at all.

We're allowed to write as many as we want...

Actually, what does it matter if you don't break the law??

and EENTWEED, you're a moron. You have no idea what you are talking about.... a new digital radio is $3-4K and a handheld is $1500 to $2500.

At least have the balls to allow IM's or Email if you're going to continue to talk out your a ss.

OceanUnit405

It really depends on the individual department. Very few departments have full out quotas anymore where officers are required to write a certain number of tickets, but almost all deparments do track many things such as citations in stats. Normal patrol units will typically not be expected to write a lot of citations, but their stats will be looked at when they go for a position such as traffic enforcement, and having written more citations will be helpful for entering a special traffic unit. Similarly, a unit whos designation is traffic enforcement will be expected to write substantially more citations than a patrol unit.

Glenn

I love this question, in my state, the town does not get any money from a citation. My department does not have any set quota or limit or certain expectation. However, we have our own internal competition to see who can get the most convictions and who made the most stops.

The moral is: Signal every turn, stop completely, make sure your lights work and don't speed.

Attorney At Law

It is true that they must reach a certain number of tickets each month to fulfill their contracts. If they don't they may loose privileges, and they may loose their job if they miss their ticket goal a certain number of times in a row.

azroadrunner05

In Jonesboro, AR our police officers(at least street cops) are required to make a certain number of "friendly contacts" each day aka pulling people over. I don't think they have to give tickets, but if they are going to make "friendly contact" they usually do.

Deuce

As far as I know most departments do not set quotas for ticketing, but they DO have quotas for performing traffic stops. So you may be stopped but not automatically cited or ticketed.

eentweedrievier2007

Police tickets are a source of revenue for the city. This doesn't mean that "quotas" exist. However, police are neck-deep in the world of city politics and funding needs, if you've ever been to town hall meetings and city budgets. Watch where the money goes... do you really think those police radios cost that much?

Mr. Goodhi

Yes,

while the cops will tell you that it's not true, if they don't give out a certain amount of tickets it looks like they aren't doing their jobs.

J R

Yes, but ask any police commander or the mayor and they will tell you there is no quota.

Brad A

Yes, thats why you might be more prone to getting tickets around the end of the month.

MacK

A rose by any other name is still a rose, and sh*t by any other name is a quota the cop is to make each month!

No matter what the cops say here they are not held accountable for many things, they can stop you for no reason, do unconstitutional searches, beat you, generally ignore the laws they swore to uphold, but they better write a certain amount of tickets, or they get into trouble.

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