In regards to "quotas" here is an article that was just published in the local rag.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100513/NEWS01/5140336/1055/NEWS/Police+divided+over+ticket+quotasLocal news
Cincinnati.Com » Local news
Last Updated: 5:22 pm | Thursday, May 13, 2010
Police divided over merits of ticket quotas
By Quan Truong • qtruong@enquirer.com • May 13, 2010
Many police don't like to call them "quotas." They prefer the term "performance standard."
That's when a police department requires officers to write a certain number of tickets to prove they are pulling their weight.
Every department has different rules - some more stringent than others - and different motivations.
Some, like Lockland and Springdale, say they do it to make sure officers aren't getting lazy. Others, like Colerain Township, say it's an archaic policy and that officers can't build rapport with citizens if they're constantly writing speeding tickets.
In Woodlawn, they don't deny it's a money maker, telling the staff that quotas would generate nearly $200,000 a year.
Woodlawn's ticket goals there were so strictly enforced that in one month's time, three police officers received warnings for not writing enough citations. A department memo said if each officer wrote at least 10 tickets a month, it would generate $194,000 a year. (The village's annual police budget is about $1.5 million.) The cost of a traffic ticket in Ohio ranges from $90 to $130.
"If we would send our criminal cases into Mayor's Court instead of downtown, it would generate even more revenue," Chief Walter Obermeyer wrote, later adding: "Officers who do not meet the standards will not receive their step increases or pay raises when the village approves them."
After The Enquirer reported on the policy, Obermeyer redacted the memo and said officers no longer would be disciplined for such reasons.
"In discussing this with the Manager, I have come to realize that enforcing a definite productivity goal can be interpreted the wrong way," Obermeyer wrote. "Therefore, there is no set ticket goal in the Village and no officer will be disciplined for failure to write a certain number of tickets."
Such blatant orders by Woodlawn's chief raise a question many police departments have struggled with for years: How fair is it to measure an officer's performance by citations and arrest numbers?
It's not fair at all, said Rich Roberts, an International Union of Police Associations spokesman.
"You can't predict how many people are going to break the law at any given time," Roberts said. "It tells you nothing really, and it's also, by the way, unfair to the public. If an officer is under pressure to write tickets, they lose almost all discretion."
Marlon Smiles, 34, of Fairfield, calls it "bull."
The tow-truck driver recently received an improper passing ticket on Kemper Road in Springdale and was at Mayor's Court on Wednesday. He planned to fight the citation "tooth and nail."
"It's messed up. It makes them write tickets for things they'd normally give you a warning for," Smiles said. "The public already doesn't trust the police, and this just makes it worse. Let the cops do their job."
Springdale's police chief refused to share his department's policy, saying, "Frankly, it's nobody's business."
A public records request shows Springdale sets a minimum of 150 citations per year for first- and third-shift officers and 180 for all other shifts.
"We don't have quotas," Chief Mike Laage said. "We have standards."
He posed this question: "Should administrators allow an officer to sit behind a building and not do anything?"
In Lockland, department policy requires officers to make 10 "contacts" a month, which could mean a speeding ticket or a domestic violence arrest.
"If I wanted to write tickets on an eight-hour shift, I could easily write 15 a day," Lockland Lt. Terry Wilkerson said. "Ten a month, if they're tickets or arrests, is not an overly large number."
It's not a way to generate revenue, he said, but rather to make sure officers are not slacking on taxpayers' dime.
That sort of policy was abandoned altogether in Colerain Township 15 years ago, when a new police chief decided that evaluating an officer's performance was not based on numbers alone.
When Officer Andy Demeropolis first started working there five years ago, he issued about 80 tickets a year. Today, he issues closer to 20.
Demeropolis said that isn't a sign he's slacking, but rather that he's been working so hard, fewer people violate the rules.
"Police departments have been going back and forth for the past decade on this," Demeropolis said. "Fifteen years ago, we did that. But then we started looking at a total picture of all your work. It's not just hard stats - it's how do you get along with other agencies, do you communicate well, your rapport with the public, and training."
Bills to ban quotas are pending this year in Illinois, Tennessee and Michigan, according to National Conference of State Legislatures. A number of states already have passed such laws, including California, Maryland, Texas and New York. Ohio is not one of them.
Those who support the bills say it protects the rights of individuals. Opponents argue the state has no business micro-managing municipalities.
"We need to ban them," Smiles said. "This affects the public greatly and it's not right."
Allowing these policies to go on won't help law enforcement's image in the public eye, Roberts said, adding, "Especially when they are used as a revenue generator, it's a disservice to everyone."
My favorite is:
Springdale's police chief refused to share his department's policy, saying, "Frankly, it's nobody's business."
In the next line the Enquirer got the policy via a FOIA request. I believe the chief has forgotten who he works for.
Also:
Bills to ban quotas are pending this year in Illinois, Tennessee and Michigan, according to National Conference of State Legislatures. A number of states already have passed such laws, including California, Maryland, Texas and New York. Ohio is not one of them.
This shows that there is a great diversity in policy across these great United States.
