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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] Somepolice departments may set "productivity goals" but deny specific quotas.[2] In many places, such as North Carolina,California,Texas, andFlorida, traffic ticket quotas are specifically prohibited by law or illegal.[3][4][5]
One common way of preventing traffic ticket quotas includes statutorily regulating the distribution of ticket fine revenue, to prevent it going straight back to thelaw enforcement agency which issued the tickets; thus eliminating any direct monetary incentive to issue tickets.
North Carolina law, prohibits ticket quotas only for theState Highway Patrol.[6][7] In 2002, theFourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that aDivision of Motor Vehicles quota system could be followed by officers "without breaking the law".[8]
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.[9]
Officially, theNew York City Police Department (NYPD) denies using quotas in policing. In 2015, NYPD CommissionerWilliam 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.[10]
Al O'Leary, a spokesman for thePatrolmen's Benevolent Association inBrooklyn, 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".[11]
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 2009Guusje ter Horst told Members of theStates General of the Netherlands (parliament) that the justice ministry had agreed that the police should raise€831m through fines.[12]
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
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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