"Cops have a[n illegal] quota system."
-Sgt. James Eagan, New York State Police (Retired), from his book, A Speeder's Guide to Avoiding Tickets
"It is illegal for law enforcement agencies to issue quotas for citations or arrests of individuals. The Fraternal Order of Police strongly disagrees with this illegal action and respectfully requests you rescind this action of supervisors at the Knoxville Police Department. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's still a duck. It's a quota."
-Edward Daniel, attorney at law
"I was put under pressure. It was like a race. How many more people can we get today?"
-KPD police officer under arrest for obstruction of justice and perjury, describing the government's illegal quota in Knoxville, Tennessee
"I think the law enforcement community would agree with me that they would rather be out busting criminals than getting some grandmother who is running late to church doing 56 mph in a 55," TN State Rep Burchett (now mayor of Knox County), author of TN Code banning illegal ticket quotas
LAPD officers allege ticket quotas
By C.J. Lin, Staff Writer
08/04/2011
Ten more LAPD motor officers have sued the city, claiming harassment and retaliation after they complained they were forced to meet illegal traffic-ticket quotas.
The officers, all assigned to the Los Angeles Police Department's West Traffic Division, say they were reprimanded, denied overtime and promotions, or deprived of vacations after they objected to the quotas, according to the lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court.
"The officers were directed to meet specific ticket numbers by days, weeks and months," said Matthew McNicholas, one of three attorneys representing the group.
LAPD officials declined to comment on the lawsuit, but denied the department has a policy or practice of requiring officers to write a minimum number of tickets.
"We don't have traffic ticket quotas," said Lt. Andrew Neiman, an LAPD spokesman.
The suit alleges the department tracked the number of tickets they wrote and illegally compared them to the records of other officers.
The plaintiffs filing the suit are Officers Philip Carr, Kevin Cotter, Timothy Dacus, Peter Landelius, Kevin Ree, Kevin Riley, Josh Sewell, Vincent Stroway, James Wallace and Jason Zapatka.
The lawsuit is similar to one filed by two other West Traffic Division officers, who won a $2 million judgment in April. They claimed they were harassed and given poor performance reviews after complaining about ticket quotas.
The newest suit signals poor supervision within the division, said City Councilman Dennis Zine.
"This is not only embarrassing, but it shows that there is a lack of management, and it's a sad commentary on the leadership of that division," said Zine, who was a motor cop and supervisor during his 33-year career with the LAPD.
The lawsuit does not state when the alleged retaliations took place nor does it specify who was in charge at the time.
Under state law, the quotas are illegal because they may force officers to issue improper tickets to meet goals.
"You can't say, `I want you to go out and write 50 tickets a day,' but you can say, `I want you to go out and do 10 hours of work,"' Zine said.
See also:
Tennessee Highway Patrol Ticket Quota Uncovered
THP Memo requiring illegal ticket quota
THP quota increases biker tickets 11,400% at Deals Gap
KPD Memo requiring illegal ticket quota in Knoxville Tennessee
Tennessee State Sen. Tim Burchett pushes ban on traffic ticket quotas
Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-16-402. Official misconduct.
(a) A public servant commits an offense who, with intent to obtain a benefit or to harm another, intentionally or knowingly:
(1) Commits an act relating to the servant's office or employment that constitutes an unauthorized exercise of official power;
(2) Commits an act under color of office or employment that exceeds the servant's official power;
(3) Refrains from performing a duty that is imposed by law or that is clearly inherent in the nature of the public servant's office or employment;
(4) Violates a law relating to the public servant's office or employment; or
(5) Receives any benefit not otherwise authorized by law.
(b) For purposes of subdivision (a)(2), a public servant commits an act under color of office or employment who acts or purports to act in an official capacity or takes advantage of the actual or purported capacity.
(c) It is a defense to prosecution for this offense that the benefit involved was a trivial benefit incidental to personal, professional or business contact, and involved no substantial risk of undermining official impartiality.
(d) An offense under this section is a Class E felony.
(e) Charges for official misconduct may be brought only by indictment, presentment or criminal information; provided, that nothing in this section shall deny a person from pursuing other criminal charges by affidavit of complaint.
HISTORY: Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 1; 1990, ch. 980, § 10.
Tennessee Highway Patrol Ticket Quota Uncovered
Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) troopers are punished for failing to issue a specific number of speeding tickets in at least one part of the state. Attorney Fletcher Long provided WTVF-TV with a copy of a memo THP Sergeant Clifford M. Babits posted on the wall of the Troop C station in Robertson County. ”I can no longer justify fives on evaluations for troopers not producing activity,” Babits wrote. “I require three things. 1. Answer the radio, 2. Work your crashes, and 3. WRITE TICKETS. I take some of the blame for not properly motivating ya’ll in the area of activity. Overall activity last year (2008) was well below the district average… Because activity plays such a high part of an everyday road trooper’s requirement, it is going to weigh heavy on yearly evaluation scores.”
These scores, with ‘five’ being the highest rating, are key to winning promotions, extra pay and the most desirable types of assignments. According to the memo, scoring is based solely on the number of tickets issued, although other factors such as routinely failing to follow orders can result in a lowered score. Babits set six hundred tickets a year, or three tickets per day, as the bare minimum.
“Let me stress I am not putting a quota on anyone,” Babits wrote. “I don’t care if a trooper writes below the 600 mark, it is his or her evaluation score, not mine. If a trooper turns in 600 citations per year, his or her overall evaluation will not be above the average score of three… I must be able to justify giving a trooper a five. Low activity is a killer.”
It takes 800 citations per year, or four tickets per day, to earn the top score. A rating of four is earned by writing 700 tickets per year or 3.5 per day. Those who fail toexceed the average score of three are punished by not being allowed to earn time-and-a-half pay on overtime assignments.
“Effective immediately, a trooper that does not produce above average activity (17.5 tickets per week) will not be able to work grant overtime in my county,” Babits wrote.
Tennessee Highway Patrol officials deny any quota exists. Many state police forces use the average number of tickets written by troops or stations to encourage a steady year-on-year increase in the number of speeding tickets issued.
43 Comments:
In other news, the Pope is Catholic, and bears crap in the woods.
"To tax and collect."
TEXAS TRANSPORTATION CODE
TITLE 7. VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC
SUBTITLE I. ENFORCEMENT OF TRAFFIC LAWS
CHAPTER 720. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
Sec. 720.001. BADGE OF SHERIFF, CONSTABLE, OR DEPUTY.
(a) A sheriff, constable, or deputy sheriff or deputy constable may not arrest or accost a person for driving a motor vehicle on a highway in violation of a law relating to motor vehicles unless the sheriff, constable, or deputy displays a badge showing the sheriff's, constable's, or deputy's title.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person violates this section. An offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable in the same manner as an offense under Section 86.011, Local Government Code.(c) An officer charged by law to take or prosecute a complaint under this section shall be removed from office if the officer refuses to do so.
Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.
Sec. 720.002. PROHIBITION ON TRAFFIC-OFFENSE QUOTAS.
(a) A political subdivision or an agency of this state may not establish or maintain, formally or informally, a plan to evaluate, promote, compensate, or discipline:(1) a peace officer according to the officer's issuance of a predetermined or specified number of any type or combination of types of traffic citations; or(2) a justice of the peace or a judge of a county court, statutory county court, municipal court, or municipal court of record according to the amount of money the justice or judge collects from persons convicted of a traffic offense.
(b) A political subdivision or an agency of this state may not require or suggest to a peace officer, a justice of the peace, or a judge of a county court, statutory county court, municipal court, or municipal court of record:(1) that the peace officer is required or expected to issue a predetermined or specified number of any type or combination of types of traffic citations within a specified period; or(2) that the justice or judge is required or expected to collect a predetermined amount of money from persons convicted of a traffic offense within a specified period.
(c) Repealed by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 737, Sec. 1, eff. June 19, 2009.
(d) This section does not prohibit a municipality from obtaining budgetary information from a municipal court or a municipal court of record, including an estimate of the amount of money the court anticipates will be collected in a budget year.
(e) A violation of this section by an elected official is misconduct and a ground for removal from office. A violation of this section by a person who is not an elected official is a ground for removal from the person's position.
(f) In this section:(1) "Conviction" means the rendition of an order by a court imposing a punishment of incarceration or a fine.(2) "Traffic offense" means an offense under:(A) Chapter 521; or(B) Subtitle C.
Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.Amended by: Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 737, Sec. 1, eff. June 19, 2009.
MINNISOTA STATE LAW
169.985 TRAFFIC CITATION QUOTA PROHIBITED.
A law enforcement agency may not order, mandate, require, or suggest to a peace officer a quota for the issuance of traffic citations, including administrative citations authorized under section 169.999, on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis.
299D.08 TRAFFIC CITATION QUOTA PROHIBITED.
The State Patrol or a law enforcement agency shall not order, mandate, require, or suggest to a patrol trooper, commercial vehicle inspector, or law compliance representative that the patrol trooper, inspector, or representative issue a certain number of traffic citations on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly quota basis.
84.0285 GAME AND FISH CITATION QUOTAS PROHIBITED.
The commissioner of natural resources, or the director of the Division of Enforcement and Field Service, may not order, mandate, require, or in any manner suggest, directly or indirectly, to a conservation officer that the conservation officer issue a certain number of game and fish law violations on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly quota basis.
California Code
Arrest Quota Defined
41600. For purposes of this chapter, "arrest quota" means any requirement regarding the number of arrests made, or the number of citations issued, by a peace officer, or parking enforcement employee, or the proportion of those arrests made and citations issued by a peace officer or parking enforcement employee, relative to the arrests made and citations issued by another peace officer or parking enforcement employee, or group of officers or employees.
Added Ch. 1111, Stats. 1976. Effective January 1, 1977.
Amended Sec. 1, Ch. 105, Stats. 2002. Effective January 1, 2003.
Citation Defined
41601. For purposes of this chapter, "citation" means a notice to appear, notice of violation, or notice of parking violation.
Added Ch. 1111, Stats. 1976. Effective January 1, 1977
Arrest Quota Prohibited
41602. No state or local agency employing peace officers or parking enforcement employees engaged in the enforcement of this code or any local ordinance adopted pursuant to this code, may establish any policy requiring any peace officer or parking enforcement employees to meet an arrest quota.
Amended Sec. 3, Ch. 105, Stats. 2002. Effective January 1, 2003.
Evaluation of Peace Officers Performance
41603. No state or local agency employing peace officers or parking enforcement employees engaged in the enforcement of this code shall use the number of arrests or citations issued by a peace officer or parking enforcement employees as the sole criterion for promotion, demotion, dismissal, or the earning of any benefit provided by the agency. Those arrests or citations, and their ultimate dispositions, may only be considered in evaluating the overall performance of a peace officer or parking enforcement employees. An evaluation may include, but shall not be limited to, criteria such as attendance, punctuality, work safety, complaints by citizens, commendations, demeanor, formal training, and professional judgment.
Amended Sec. 4, Ch. 105, Stats. 2002. Effective January 1, 2003.
Ex-officers seek to stop traffic grants
By Daniel Borunda
EL PASO TIMES
11/01/2011
Five former El Paso police officers have filed a request for an injunction against city officials, alleging police have an illegal quota system for traffic tickets.
The ex-officers claim they were forced to resign, but City Manager Joyce Wilson said the officers resigned when faced with termination linked to allegations of falsified time sheets.
The resignations come after an investigation began in late summer regarding the misappropriation of overtime linked to the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program, or STEP, grant. The investigation has since expanded beyond traffic grants.
A week ago, Lt. Alfred Lowe, head of the Crimes Against Persons Unit, was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into overtime regarding a state grant paying for anti-gang operations.
The petition for an injunction was filed last week in the 34th District Court and seeks to stop the El Paso Police Department from using state traffic enforcement grants and alleges that a quota system is being used.
A hearing date is pending on the petition filed by ex-officers Luis Acosta, Ana Reza, Jorge Arellano, Michael Arzaga and Luis Alonzo Ortiz against Police Chief Greg Allen, Wilson and Mayor John Cook.
Each officer was with the department for more than 10 years until their resignations in late August and September. They are represented by lawyers Stuart Leeds and Theresa Caballero.
Leeds and Caballero provided the El Paso Times with a copy of an internal police email where a traffic sergeant complains to officers that not enough citations are being issued as part of a Click-It-or-Ticket seat-belt enforcement grant.
The May 26 email by Sgt. Jack Matthews of the Traffic Division stated "the performance standard set forth in the grant is a minimum of three seat-belt violations per hour of work per officer. If you think that you cannot meet this goal during your five-hour shift, then do not work the grant ... those that do not produce what is required will not be considered to work any traffic-related grants in the future."
Matthews was a past grant administrator, according to city documents, and retired Aug. 20, about the time the grants investigation was under way. Matthews has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Leeds said the email is proof that a quota system, though using a different name, is used by the Police Department in violation of state law.
"This proves this is all about money," Leeds said. "It is not about law enforcement and criminal justice. The people of El Paso are being hunted" for traffic citations.
Police and city officials denied the allegations. Police officials have said performance standards are not a quota system.
"These attorneys are representing their clients who resigned voluntarily in lieu of termination," Wilson said in a statement.
"The El Paso Police Department does not have a quota system and the issue at hand has nothing to do with quotas -- it has to do with falsifying time records. The lawsuit is without merit and our legal team is preparing a response."
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.
