Ticket Quotas for police departments made it as a news item in today's Star Ledger yet this is not news, this has been going on for decades. The local municipality needs to beef up their budget after increasing their spending and can no longer drain enough money out of the residents in the form of taxes, permits, licenses, and fees. Their solution to this dilemma is to direct the local police department to issue a minimum number of tickets for parking and driving violations to increase the inflow of money.
Why is it in the news now? Because the police officers are now being evaluated based on meeting these quotas.
This is a sick process. Do we tell our police officers that they have to arrest 10 murderers a year or they have to catch 15 burglars a month. The local government is relying on local violations for income and using the law enforcement to collect it. Some police officers find this method humiliating as their job is to fight crime not to collect taxes. Quotas are what lead police officers to spend days hiding behind a billboard sign and doing nothing but waiting for a speeding car. It is an inefficient use of their time and takes away from the security of the rest of the municipality.
Click here for the article.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
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