Quotas

[Gawernator]

Thoughts? http://www.wptv.com/news/state/brand...ief-mike-szabo

[micro911]

I don't know about them, but I have never had a quota. There were times when I didn't write for a week or so. But, there were few times when I wrote 15 in one day.

I was never a traffic unit, so I had never really write many tickets unless the driver really asked for it.

[Ron-Solo]

I worked a traffic unit a lot over the years. I never had a quota. I could write as many as I wanted to write.

If you are assigned to traffic enforcement, writing tickets is part of your job. Thats what you are getting paid to do, so if you aren't writing ANY tickets, you are not doing your job. That's different than having a quota.

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

Sounds like the Chief is already in hot water over it. Any chief that tried the same in CA clearly hasn't read the Vehicle Code (CVC 41600 et. seq.).

On the other hand, it's pretty easy to look at statistics for average stop numbers in a given area on a given shift. An officer working traffic who habitually lags behind that number is probably not doing their job and will find about it. I've had that discussion with officers.

LOL at Ron-Solo's first line... I got a severe talking to for letting that line slip on a traffic stop once.

[CBR_rider]

Couple things:

- If the town makes alot of money from tickets (I assume it is on/near a busy highway/tourist area), the chief is probably either under alot of pressure to keep up the numbers or possibly looking to make friends with the local officials (future political jobs/budget considerations that may have nothing to do with personal gain/etc).

- Another example of LEO's NOT hiding behind the "blue line." There are probably some interesting dynamics here; but never the less the (apparently) illegal activity was certainly put into the spotlight by members of the chief's own department.

- As has already been stated; if you are working a traffic unit it stands to reason that you should come in at the end of your day with traffic related activities accomplished. Some days it might be DUI's, others it might be tickets, and sometimes it might be crashes; but you best come in with SOMETHING (or have a good reason such as being in traffic court all day..).

[jmatt511]

I worked a traffic unit a lot over the years. I never had a quota. I could write as many as I wanted to write.

If you are assigned to traffic enforcement, writing tickets is part of your job. Thats what you are getting paid to do, so if you aren't writing ANY tickets, you are not doing your job. That's different than having a quota.

I got to write as many as I wanted also. My sergeant once told me if I wrote two more that month, I'd get a toaster oven.

[SimonBirch]

They exist. I call em hidden quotas. When ur supervisor gives u a needs improvement and then comments that your "ticket activity is low" yeah.....

[rgray]

As I was told once, they are not quotas but performance expectations...

[SDDAVE56]

Its called the numbers game. You don't want to be the one on your squad with the most "activity", or the one with the least.

[1CavScout]

I never worked a traffic unit and worked nights by choice for most of my time in patrol. Going to traffic court at 10:00 am when you get off at 7:00 am and have to be back at 6:30 pm sucks. I rarely wrote tickets. If someone was 12500 or 14601 they were written and their car towed. Other than that, you had to try to get a ticket from me. I would rather be chasing gangsters around the hood. We had no quotas, but if you were working traffic you had to be doing traffic related enforcement.

[yzErnie]

They exist. I call em hidden quotas. When ur supervisor gives u a needs improvement and then comments that your "ticket activity is low" yeah.....

Would need to see both sides of this argument before making a comment.

[retired]

They exist. I call em hidden quotas. When ur supervisor gives u a needs improvement and then comments that your "ticket activity is low" yeah.....

Are you saying this as a leo or a non leo voicing your opinion.

[dno]

Does anyone here think that you could drive around in a patrol car for 8 to 12 hours and NOT see at least one traffic violation worth investigating?

I had a TO in my den, working with a boot, that wouldn't write any cites in a 28 day deployment period....

Is he doing his job as expected? I don't think so.

[Gawernator]

Hahaha, especially in Cali right? A cop told my Dad and I once that he could sit at the same corner and write constant tickets for failure to stop etc.... and it's true. Red light and stop sign violations are constant...

[Che762x39]

I got to write as many as I wanted also. My sergeant once told me if I wrote two more that month, I'd get a toaster oven.

That is classic my friend