Cops and speeding Tickets

[copelandamuffy]

Is your local police, state, or Province police force state they
must write a certain of number of speeding tickets?
In Massachusetts the State Troppers arre:

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=167519

[HotelSecurity]

When I took Police Technology I was taught that there was absoultly no quota. However, if all the other Officers were writting 4 or 5 tickets a day & you were only writting 1, your Sgt. would be having a talk with you.

[Black Caesar]

Ticket Quotas are illegal in Texas. some agencies get past it be requiring a certain amount of "activity" per shift, and tickets are a form of "activity".

Being that I work deeps, I don't do much traffic (the college is closed when I'm on duty, occasionally I'll have a suspicious vehicle on campus, but thats about it, I got nobody to stop unless I go out on the adjacent streets, and since I have no back up on campus, my Lt. "discourages" that practice). But my Department's day shift guys do work traffic.

When I did work traffic, I gave lots of warnings, like the article says, you don't "nickle and dime" the public, this goes double for us since we're campus police (our students already pay tuition, we try not to make it worse by writting them a county citation if we don't have to, sometimes we don't have a choice though).

Anything that takes the decision making process away from the officer on the scene is stupid.

[Charger]

It's probably not true everywhere, but a Sgt. I knew a few years ago explained their local version of a quota to me...

Apparently, their department did not have any set quota, or # of tickets they were supposed to write. HOWEVER, the city officials DID have a set amount of revenue from traffic citations that they expected the PD to bring in each month. They actually planned for it in the city budget! So if the PD had a slow month, and didn't bring in quite enough, the city would jump on them about it. That was also why they tended to write more tickets towards the end of the month, (which of course led to more belief from the public that there was a quota).
On the flipside, he also said that they would sometimes use that against the city... If the PD was pushing to try & get better benefits, or a slight raise in pay, they would ask the city... If the city said no, or tried putting them off, they would simply stop writing tickets until the city agreed to listen to their requests....LOL A little underhanded, maybe, but like the DT instructors say: To hell with fighting clean, fight to win!

So in that case, they had a quota in a way, but it wasn't quite what people thought it was...

[HotelSecurity]

It's probably not true everywhere, but a Sgt. I knew a few years ago explained their local version of a quota to me...

Apparently, their department did not have any set quota, or # of tickets they were supposed to write. HOWEVER, the city officials DID have a set amount of revenue from traffic citations that they expected the PD to bring in each month. They actually planned for it in the city budget! So if the PD had a slow month, and didn't bring in quite enough, the city would jump on them about it. That was also why they tended to write more tickets towards the end of the month, (which of course led to more belief from the public that there was a quota).
On the flipside, he also said that they would sometimes use that against the city... If the PD was pushing to try & get better benefits, or a slight raise in pay, they would ask the city... If the city said no, or tried putting them off, they would simply stop writing tickets until the city agreed to listen to their requests....LOL A little underhanded, maybe, but like the DT instructors say: To hell with fighting clean, fight to win!

So in that case, they had a quota in a way, but it wasn't quite what people thought it was...

Quebec police forces are famous for that tatic during labour negociations.

[FDG06]

With WSP, its based as a % of daily contacts, averaged for the month. If your daily contacts range from 20-40 for example, then your number of tickets written should be 5-10, this is an example only, I believe the number per day is closer to 18-20 per day and up here, those working the interstate can get that "bucket" full normally before lunch time... but court days, sick days, major accident response, & other duties not on actual patrol can be used to justify a lower average..of course "quotas" are not permitted.
Yoda

[Mall Director]

I communicate alot with local PDs and such, and I find that it isnt so much a "quota" in our area, as it is a contact issue. Their commanders like to see a certain level of contacts made. A LEO that doesnt make any stops for months at a time, raise their interest, and questions begin. "Why is this officer not making any stops? Is he/she busy with something else, or just confrontational avoidance?"

Then there are the ticket happy individuals, which when it comes to promotion time, their cases are reviewed, and it sends a red flag to the commanders when an officer is out stopping anything and everything, and writing everyone. Overzealousey (sp) can backfire on a person.

Look at it the same way we look at our contacts.. LOL.. I had some officers that went ban happy. It made me wonder if they were on a power trip. Then I had officers who couldnt make a ban happen during a friday night "fast+furious" showing. The ones that didnt make any bans what so ever, especially in a crime ridden community as ours, placed them under department investigation. Come to find out in all cases, the officer was not interested in doing their job, and was there to collect a paycheck only. Typically these officers didnt make it past their 90 probationary period. THe ones that had, were terminated as they had been around a few months already and knew better.

It went the same way with the ones that brought people in for very minor first time violations (smoking, profanity, malingering). Come to find out these officers were just too extreme, and probably needed Prozac or something. LOL, they went away just as quickly.

Alot of LE wont say, but when you scale it down to your level, it is all the same. Too much of this, and too little of that, demonstrate warnings to supervisors and get attention in the wrong way.

Our local PD does have a points system, based on a quarterly review, where they gain so many points for each contact type and arrest. Their is like 10 points or so. A good felony arrest makes 3 points.

[copelandamuffy]

In Massachusetts unmarked State police cruisers are not that unusall
Cameros, and Ponies {Mustangs}.
The blue and red ding dong lights are in the grill.
The troopers will usually wave the 10 mph over the speed limit, but
after that the fine is pretty bad.

[Bill Warnock]

In Massachusetts unmarked State police cruisers are not that unusall
Cameros, and Ponies {Mustangs}.
The blue and red ding dong lights are in the grill.
The troopers will usually wave the 10 mph over the speed limit, but
after that the fine is pretty bad.

When I was in that line of work we had a little saying, "Nine, you're mine."
We had to ensure our speed clocks were calibrated and certified by the county.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[IrishCop]

"State police brass are pressuring troopers to dole out speeding tickets instead of warnings in a cash-grabbing mandate cops say is the closest the department has ever come to setting quotas."

I disagree with the setting of quotas and the introduction of an award system could lead to a court challenge to the credibility of the evidence given by the prosecuting officer.

"..............but Officer, by issuing my client with the Traffic Infringement Notice, was it the case that by issuing such an Infringement Notice, you were entitled to an award of.................?"

Sounds like a city on the hunt for extra revenue.

I know of no police department that would admit to setting quotas, however there has to be some measure of an Officers performance and if his main duty is Highway Patrol, then how else does his Commander measure his performance?

[Mr. Security]

Recently, the Mayor put pressure on the local PD to start issuing infractions instead of warnings. Of course, the police resent it when their discretion is taken away. I agree....to a certain extent. Motorists in my area knew that it would likely be a warning if stopped, so they didn't worry about it. A fine, points, and higher insurance do get their attention. Lawlessness has a way of spreading w/o consequences. I say: "Write 'em up."