One of the least talked about subjects in police departments all across the country are ticket quotas, and for good reason. The general public doesn’t believe a certain number of people should be stopped by police officers just so the department can hit a desired number, and officers don’t like the stigma that comes with mandatory monthly interactions.
Despite the popular sentiment against quotas, they exist in some departments throughout the country for a variety of reasons. In some areas, quotas are crucial for providing funding for the department, while others operate this way simply because “that’s the way it has always been done.”
One such place that has ticket quotas is Auburn, Alabama. Home to a popular college campus, Auburn boasts a population of 50,000 people and a police presence of 60 officers. That may seem like a wide disparity, but the real concern stems from allegations made by former Auburn police officer Justin Hanners, who said each cop was responsible for 100 contacts a month. If 60 officers made 100 contacts a month (contacts are defined as arrests, tickets, field interviews and warnings), that’s 6,000 interactions a month, or 72,000 a year, which equates to nearly 1.5 contacts a year for every person in the city.
Instituting the Quota
The new police chief instituted the quota in 2010, which didn’t sit well with some officers on the force, including Hanners.
“When I first heard about the quotas I was appalled,” said Hanners. “There are not that many speeders, there are not that many people running red lights to get those numbers, so what [the police] do is they lower their standards,” says Hanners.
Hanners said officers were soon rewarded for going above and beyond the newly set contact quota.
“The officer who wrote the most tickets and the one who came in second were given gift cards for like steak dinners and things like that,” said Hanners.
Hanners repeatedly expressed his concerns about the quotas to his colleagues and superiors, but they fell upon deaf ears. He believed the police chief was overstepping his boundaries, so he recorded the chief in during briefing meetings. Some of the concerning statements can be heard in the video below.
Hanners was eventually fired from the department for failing to comply with the new regulations and for speaking out about the quotas. He said he didn’t want to be part of an organization that needed to harass a certain number of individuals each month.
“The role of police in a society are to interfere with the lives of the people as little as possible but protect them from the 1% element that wants to victimize them,” said Hanners.
The police chief who instituted the quota retired this month, citing medical reasons. It’s uncertain if the Auburn Police Department will continue with its monthly quota program.
Attorney Mel Welch comments
I don’t really know where to start with something like this – from the presumption given to the State and Police by The People and judges, that law enforcement really are being honest and only seeking to protect and serve – and line their pockets by making sure they make enough off a quota.
Then, there are the legal ramifications underlying the motive for the stop. If subjective intent, which the courts commonly say is irrelevant, is motivated by making a quota – can their assertions be reliable?
Finally, there’s the incentive of law enforcement to ensure that their stop/arrest/whatever is upheld so that they meet their quota, and they don’t hurt their credibility that is already on the line because it’s a broken system. As seen in the video, these quotas can lead to unjustified arrests, which is counterintuitive when you consider the organization designed to “protect and serve.”
Related source: Reason.com
