You will sometimes hear people say that police officers have traffic ticket quotas. For instance, maybe an officer has to give out 10 speeding tickets every day and then report their stats when their shift ends.
The concern here is that officers would be more likely to give out tickets that were not necessary. They would spend their time trying to fill quotas rather than simply enforcing the law. This means the officer would not have the focus that they should and may be more likely to give someone a ticket they didn’t deserve, all because that officer worried that their job was in jeopardy. But does this happen?
Statistics are being monitored
Reports claim that officers are not given ticket quotas. At the same time, however, the statistics they compile are monitored by the department. Productivity is important, as it is with any job.
In other words, an officer may not be told to give out 10 tickets every day, but they may also feel some pressure not to come back to HQ at the end of the shift without having written a single ticket. The officer may even worry that they will be accused of shirking their responsibilities because there is no other way to measure how productive they have been. The ticket statistics themselves are the evidence, so officers may feel that pressure even if they don’t technically have a quota or a total that they are expected to meet.
Do you feel that an officer gave you a ticket you didn’t deserve? Whether it’s for speeding or another traffic violation, it’s important to look into your legal defense options.