Ticket quota

Ticket quotas are commonly defined as any establishment of a predetermined or specified number of traffic citations an officer must issue in a specified time.^[1] Some police departments may set "productivity goals" but deny specific quotas.^[2] In many places, such as North Carolina, California, Texas, and Florida, traffic ticket quotas are specifically prohibited by law or illegal.^[3]^[4]^[5]

United States

One common way of preventing traffic ticket quotas includes statutorily regulating the distribution of ticket fine revenue, to prevent it going straight back to the law enforcement agency which issued the tickets; thus eliminating any direct monetary incentive to issue tickets.

North Carolina

North Carolina law (N.C. General Statutes, (NCGS), specifically prohibits "Ticket Quotas" to the State Highway Patrol. Other agencies being affected by this law is ambiguous, but it is safe to assume that it does apply to other public agencies.

Florida

Florida law distributes traffic ticket fine monies by small percentages or amounts to several separate funds preventing it from going back to the agency which issued the ticket. Some of these different funds include the overall governmental entities' general revenue fund, Child Welfare Training Trust Fund, Juvenile Justice Training Trust Fund, Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund, Indigent Criminal Defense Trust Fund, Emergency Medical Services Trust Fund, Law Enforcement Radio System Trust Fund, Vocational Rehabilitation of the Department of Education, Division of Blind Services, Epilepsy Services Trust Fund, and Nongame Wildlife Trust Fund.^[6]

Use by NYPD

Officially, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) denies using quotas in policing. In 2015, NYPD Commissioner William Bratton stated: "There are no quotas, if you will." However, some officers dispute this, and describe being put under pressure to meet a specific number of tickets/arrests per month. According to former officer Adhyl Polanco, NYPD officers are expected to bring in "20 and one" per month, referring to 20 tickets and 1 arrest.^[7]

Al O'Leary, a spokesman for the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association in Brooklyn, New York says: "Such quotas put the cops under pressure to write summonses when the violations don't exist ... It takes discretion away from the police officer".^[8]

Netherlands

The national quota system for issuing tickets was previously scrapped from police performance contracts, but individual forces may still impose their own quota system. In 2009 Guusje ter Horst told Members of the States General of the Netherlands (parliament) that the justice ministry had agreed that the police should raise €831m through fines.^[9]

References

^ "SB 264 (2015) Transportation (Post-Meeting) Analysis" (PDF). Florida Senate. February 4, 2015. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
^ Fahim, Kareem (January 12, 2006). "Police in Brooklyn Used Illegal Ticket Quotas, Arbitrator Decides". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-11-21. In the 75th Precinct, the union accused the Police Department of setting quotas for parking tickets, moving violations, "quality of life" summonses (for offenses like turnstile jumping) and arrests, according to the arbitrator's report
^ Blankstein, Andrew; Rubin, Joel (April 12, 2011). "LAPD officers who complained about ticket quotas are awarded $2 million". Los Angeles Times.
^ "316.640(b)(8), Fla. Stat. A traffic enforcement agency may not establish a traffic citation quota". Florida Legislature. 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
^ "StackPath". November 2011.
^ "318.21, Fla. Stat. Disposition of civil penalties by county courts". Florida Legislature. 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
^ "Despite Laws And Lawsuits, Quota-Based Policing Lingers". NPR. 2015. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
^ Fahim, Kareem (20 January 2006). "Police in Brooklyn Used Illegal Ticket Quotas, Arbitrator Decides". New York Times. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
^ "More fines, more respect says police minister". DutchNews.nl. November 17, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-21. The police can boost their standing in the community by handing out more fines, home affairs minister Guusje ter Horst told MPs on Tuesday. People expect to get a fine if they break the law, Ter Horst said. 'The instrument to boost respect is writing out tickets,' she was quoted as saying in the Telegraaf. 'People approve if road hogs or drivers who go through red lights are fined.' Ter Horst told MPs the justice ministry had agreed the police should raise €831m through fines, and denied this is new policy. Opposition MPs say the reputation of the police is being hurt by police officers standing on street corners handing out as many fines as possible. While the national quota was scrapped from police performance contracts, individual forces may still impose their own, the Telegraaf said.

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[1] "SB 264 (2015) Transportation (Post-Meeting) Analysis" (PDF). Florida Senate. February 4, 2015. Retrieved August 1, 2018.

[quota-2] Fahim, Kareem (January 12, 2006). "Police in Brooklyn Used Illegal Ticket Quotas, Arbitrator Decides". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-11-21. In the 75th Precinct, the union accused the Police Department of setting quotas for parking tickets, moving violations, "quality of life" summonses (for offenses like turnstile jumping) and arrests, according to the arbitrator's report

[3] Blankstein, Andrew; Rubin, Joel (April 12, 2011). "LAPD officers who complained about ticket quotas are awarded $2 million". Los Angeles Times.

[4] "316.640(b)(8), Fla. Stat. A traffic enforcement agency may not establish a traffic citation quota". Florida Legislature. 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2018.

[5] "StackPath". November 2011.

[6] "318.21, Fla. Stat. Disposition of civil penalties by county courts". Florida Legislature. 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.

[7] "Despite Laws And Lawsuits, Quota-Based Policing Lingers". NPR. 2015. Retrieved June 1, 2021.

[8] Fahim, Kareem (20 January 2006). "Police in Brooklyn Used Illegal Ticket Quotas, Arbitrator Decides". New York Times. Retrieved 1 October 2021.

[9] "More fines, more respect says police minister". DutchNews.nl. November 17, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-21. The police can boost their standing in the community by handing out more fines, home affairs minister Guusje ter Horst told MPs on Tuesday. People expect to get a fine if they break the law, Ter Horst said. 'The instrument to boost respect is writing out tickets,' she was quoted as saying in the Telegraaf. 'People approve if road hogs or drivers who go through red lights are fined.' Ter Horst told MPs the justice ministry had agreed the police should raise €831m through fines, and denied this is new policy. Opposition MPs say the reputation of the police is being hurt by police officers standing on street corners handing out as many fines as possible. While the national quota was scrapped from police performance contracts, individual forces may still impose their own, the Telegraaf said.

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