Cop Fired for Speaking Out Against Ticket and Arrest Quotas

[Meezer]

Auburn, Alabama is home to sprawling plains, Auburn University, and a troubling police force. After the arrival of a new police chief in 2010, the department entered an era of ticket quotas and worse.


“When I first heard about the quotas I was appalled,” says former Auburn police officer Justin Hanners, who claims he and other cops were given directives to hassle, ticket, or arrest specific numbers of residents per shift. “I got into law enforcement to serve and protect, not be a bully.”

Hanners blew the whistle on the department’s tactics and was eventually fired for refusing to comply and keep quiet. He says that each officer was required to make 100 contacts each month, which included tickets, arrests, field interviews, and warnings. This equates to 72,000 contacts a year in a 50,000 person town. His claims are backed up by audio recordings of his superiors he made. The Auburn police department declined requests to be interviewed for this story.

“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. That led to the department encouraging officers to arrest people that Hanners “didn’t feel like had broken the law.”


Cop Fired for Speaking Out Against Ticket and Arrest Quotas - Reason.com

 

[cordex]

Contact quota isn't the same thing as a ticket or arrest quota. I don't know if 100 contacts a month is excessive for his area, but making cops interact with people isn't in and of itself a bad thing.

 

[VUPDblue]

100 contacts per month is only ~5 contacts per officer per shift. That's not a lot for a town with a population of 50k.

 

[Hawkeye]

100 contacts per month is only ~5 contacts per officer per shift. That's not a lot for a town with a population of 50k.

Depends what a contact means, I guess. Chatting over a cup of coffee? Picking up a donut? Getting the phone number of the hot blonde in the convertible? Hanging out with a local badge bunny?

How about the other stat - 72,000/year in a town of 50,000?

Seriously, quotas lead to padding stats. While not inherently bad, they aren;t inherently good either.

 

[Lucas156]

So am I getting this right? They would be in "contact" or in other words harassing at least every person in the town at least one time a year?

 

[dirtfarmerz]

The opinions of the first three posts don't think the topic is such a big deal, but the cop that was involved thought differently. “When I first heard about the quotas I was appalled,” says former Auburn police officer Justin Hanners, who claims he and other cops were given directives to hassle, ticket, or arrest specific numbers of residents per shift. “I got into law enforcement to serve and protect, not be a bully.”

It was important enough for Justin Hanners to blow the whistle on the department's new tactics.

 

[HenryWallace]

“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” ― George Orwell

Even in Fort Wayne we know when the quotas are low, to watch your speed in certain areas. And yes this has been admitted to me numerous times, by the police.

 

[JetGirl]

Sidebar;

Hanging out with a local badge bunny?

So even though "something to do with Bunnykid" crosses my mind, I figure that can't be it... so I Google it.
OK, so then I figure "LOL!! Nah, that can't have something to do with the BK"...
UNTIL I saw the shirt...
Is that BunnyKid??? (And, eww.)

OK, you can resume your normal thread topic now.
P.S. BK has five o'clock shadow and it's 7:30AM. Hahaha!!

 

[churchmouse]

I have known a lot of bike LEO's in my day. I have worked on their personal bikes and drank more than a few beers with them. These cats are just on the right side of the line between crazy and the rest of us. I really enjoyed riding with those guys.
That said, they exist to write tickets....period. Call it quota's....public interaction or whatever you wish.

Most of my contact with these fellas was 10 years ago but I doubt this has changed much.

Is this a bad thing....no it is not. There are areas that need to be policed daily to keep the nut jobs in check.

 

[mrjarrell]

He says that each officer was required to make 100 contacts each month, which included tickets, arrests, field interviews, and warnings.

So, they end up arresting people for BS and trivial matters just to make quota. We've seen how this goes in NYC. They take to hanging out in minority neighbourhoods and jacking up the people without the resources to fight back. Or they move over to the college campus and start harassing students. There's nothing good about this. Hope the fired whistle blower takes them to town with a nice lawsuit.

 

[CathyInBlue]

If contacts includes purely (and I mean purely, not started out that way and then got seguewayed into some form of harrassment by the LEO) consensual contacts where the citizen approaches the LEO to ask them questions about the law, department policies, case updates, shoot the breeze, and where the citizen is actually given the information they sought by the LEO, then I'd have no problem with expecting each and every officer to have at least 5 contacts a shift. Of course, such an interaction that starts out like that, but where the LEO blows the citizen off with non-informative responses, loses his cool, regardless of what the citizen is doing, or even trumps up a charge he would never have sought the citizen out for otherwise would not count toward that tally.

 

[lucky4034]

This thread is making my head hurt... time to boil up a cup of coffee.

 

[tirebay1997]

When a SWAT team serves a warrant, does that count as a single "contact"?

 

[Liberty Sanders]

Quotas are the curse of law enforcement. I knew guys who used to make FIR cards (field interrogation reports) with information that they got from tombstones.

All units of my department that did actual law enforcement had quotas.

Our Vice Squad (a unit that did nothing but arrest people for doing things that harm no one) had a system for upping their numbers towards the end of the reporting period. They would call the proprietor of an After-Hours Joint (a private residence that operated after the closing hours of "legal" liquor establishments and which had none of the government "permits" to operate as a bar...beat cops are always familiar with the ones on their beats) and say "Hey Willy...we need some arrests. We'll be over in a little while to raid your place." Willy would say "Come on over."

The Vice Squad would "raid" the establishment and give tickets to the elderly black patrons of the establishment. The patrons would give their tickets to the owner who would pay them.

The Vice Squad would then take credit for a bunch of "vice arrests." The owner, having paid his "permit" fee, then operated unmolested until it was his turn again.

 

[phylodog]

Our Vice Squad (a unit that did nothing but arrest people for doing things that harm no one) had a system for upping their numbers towards the end of the reporting period. They would call the proprietor of an After-Hours Joint (a private residence that operated after the closing hours of "legal" liquor establishments and which had none of the government "permits" to operate as a bar...beat cops are always familiar with the ones on their beats) and say "Hey Willy...we need some arrests. We'll be over in a little while to raid your place." Willy would say "Come on over."

The Vice Squad would "raid" the establishment and give tickets to the elderly black patrons of the establishment. The patrons would give their tickets to the owner who would pay them.

The Vice Squad would then take credit for a bunch of "vice arrests." The owner, having paid his "permit" fee, then operated unmolested until it was his turn again.

That seems pretty ridiculous. What did you do to bring an end to it?

 

[Bunnykid68]

I do not wear long sleeve shirts

Sidebar;






So even though "something to do with Bunnykid" crosses my mind, I figure that can't be it... so I Google it.
OK, so then I figure "LOL!! Nah, that can't have something to do with the BK"...
UNTIL I saw the shirt...
Is that BunnyKid??? (And, eww.)

OK, you can resume your normal thread topic now.
P.S. BK has five o'clock shadow and it's 7:30AM. Hahaha!!

 

[Denny347]

This is why I like Indiana's Merit Laws.

 

[vitamink]

This is why I like Indiana's Merit Laws.

Agreed

 

[Frank_N_Stein]

That seems pretty ridiculous. What did you do to bring an end to it?

Anyone else hear crickets?

 

[VUPDblue]

Is that what that noise is?