ILLEGAL POLICE QUOTAS: DO THEY REALLY EXIST?

by John Lee
Pirate News TV and Radio Show

Strictly speaking, a driver can register a BAC of .00% and still be convicted of a DUI. The level of BAC does not clear a driver when it is below the "presumed level of intoxication."
--verbatum quote from 1999 Tennessee Driver Handbook and Driver License Study Guide

It is illegal for law enforcement agencies to issue quotas for citations or arrests of individuals.... The Fraternal Order of Police strongly disagrees with this illegal action and respectfully requests you rescind this action of supervisors at the Knoxville Police Department.... If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's still a duck. It's a quota.
--Edward Daniel, attorney at law

Cops have a[n illegal] quota system.
--Sgt. James Eagan, New York State Police (Retired), from his book, A Speeder's Guide to Avoiding Tickets

I was put under pressure. It was like a race. How many more people can we get today?
--arrested Knoxville, Tennessee, police officer describing the government's illegal quota

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE, POLICE DEPARTMENT MEMOS

Do illegal police quotas really exist? Dare to decide for yourself -- YOU be the cop, prosecutor, judge and jury.

EAST DISTRICT CONTACTS

COUNSELING-
*UNAWARE OF TRAFFIC PROBLEMS ON BEAT
*FAILURE TO ADDRESS TRAFFIC PROBLEMS ON BEAT
*NEED TO CHECK TRAFFIC COMPLAINTS
*NEED TO CHECK WRECKS AND HIGH ACCIDENT LOCATIONS
*NEED TO DO TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT TO INCREASE COMPLIANCE, REDUCE ACCIDENTS, RESPOND TO COMPLAINTS ON MAYORS SURVEY
*EACH OFFICER COUNSELED IS TO TURN IN A PLAN BY JUNE 10, 1998 OF WHAT THE TRAFFIC PROBLEMS ARE ON THEIR BEAT AND HOW THEY PLAN TO ADDRESS THEM.

EXPECTATIONS FOR JUNE 1998-

MINIMUM OF 3 CONTACTS PER DAY.

MINIMUM OF 2 CITATIONS FOR MOVING VIOLATIONS PER DAY WORKED ON THE STREET.
CITATIONS SHOULD BE AIMED A PROBLEM AREAS AND COMPLAINT RESPONSE.

MOVING VIOLATIONS-
SPEEDING, RECKLESS DRIVING, PASSING RED LIGHT, PASSING STOP SIGN/ SIGNALS, FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY, FAILURE TO YEILD, WRONG SIDE OF ROAD, IMPROPER TURN/PASSING

FAILURE TO MEET EXPECTATIONS WILL BE CAUSE FOR MUCH CLOSER SUPERVISORY SCRUTINY AND CONTROL.

AT MY THURSDAY MEETING WITH THE OTHER DISTRICT COMMANDERS AND CHIEF COKER IT WAS AGREED TO MODERATE THE STANDARDS WHICH WERE ANNOUNCED AT OUR STAFF MEETING ON WEDNESDAY.

THE BLANKET OF TWO MOVING VIOLATIONS PER DAY AND THREE CITATIONS PER DAY PER OFFICER HAS BEEN RESCINDED. THERE WILL BE NO BLANKET POLICY TO PUNISH ALL FOR THE SINS OF A FEW.

THE NEW POLICY WILL BE:

THE CONTACTS WILL BE REVIEWED EACH MONTH BY THE DISTRICT SERGEANTS, LEIUTENANTS AND COMMANDER. ANY OFFICER THAT IS PERCEIVED TO BE LOW IN CONTACTS, IN ANY AREA, MAY BE CALLED IN AND COUNSELED BY HIS SERGEANT AND A LEIUTENANT OR CAPTAIN.

IF IMPROVEMENT IS NOT SHOWN THE NEXT MONTH MORE SERIOUS SANCTIONS MAY FOLLOW.

OTHER NEWS-

CHECK ALL YOUR RADAR GUNS TO SEE IF THEY ARE WORKING OK. WE HAVE SOME GETTING READY TO GO OUT OF WARRANTEE AND WE NEED TO GET THEM FIXED FIRST. IF NOT SURE CALL SGT. AYUB.

I MAY HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THE POSTING FOR SERGEANT WILL GO UP ON MONDAY.

MAKE SURE TO CLEAN REPORTS OFF THE COMPUTER BEFORE TAKING OFF FOR YOUR BREAK BETWEEN SHIFTS. DON'T LET REPORTS LAY IN THE SYSTEM. DO SOMETHING WITH UNAPPROVED AND INCOMPLETE REPORTS TO GET THEM DONE.

OFFICER HAMRICK WILL BE GOING TO OCU.

THE FOLLOWING OFFICERS NAVE APPLIED TO WORK FOP CAMP-
P. TIPTON, NOT APPORVED
K. CARLOS, NOT APPROVED
MELVIN PIERCE, APPROVED

IF THERE ARE OTHER OFFICERS WANTING TO APPLY TO WORK LET ME KNOW.

An additional email, distributed after this alleged criminal conspiracy made headlines, allegedly read: "Don't believe everything you read in the papers. The quota is still in effect."

Of course communities require police officers (at least this author presumes so -- perhaps this author is mistaken). These police officers must be paid a living wage or they cannot work. That much is obvious. The problem lies in where that money comes from. Politicians routinely beat their breasts and proclaim themselves "tough on crime" and then slickly pass legislation to require police agencies to break the law and become "self supporting". Average American citizens are already taxed over 50% of their income. Getting blind-sided with hundreds or thousands of dollars in extra "police taxes" and resultant insurance hikes can devastate a person's financial and mental stability ("road rage" and "court rage"), at least temporarily.

Local, county and state governments already have all the tax revenue they require to pay police officers sufficiently. But greedy politicians usually have their snouts in the pork trough, siphoning millions in cash for unneeded and wasteful construction projects. This Fraud, Waste and Abuse of taxpayer funds forces cops to become criminals and to feed themselves with illegal quotas. To raise enough paychecks at the end of the week, police and governments criminalize all normal human behavior in order to reap a profit from normal human behavior (nonpredatory "crimes" of Prohibitions). Even driving behavior that makes drivers 600% safer is outlawed by a greedy and corrupt government. By criminalizing too many normal activities, too many cops get hired to gather profit from these interminable Prohibitions. It becomes a vicious cycle of Prohibitions, hiring more cops, hiring career-criminal informants (with immunity from prosecution), stricter Prohibitions, hiring more cops, building more prisons (at $100,000 per cell), etc. This tax-and-spend socialism becomes a bait-and-switch criminal conspiracy by local officials committing "treason" against their constituants -- who are literally held ransom with the barrel of a gun.

This is bad enough, but this corruption of police work leads to millions of traffic deaths by diverting attention and legal liability from the true sources of death -- defective government highways, defective vehicle designs and defective driver training. When will this madness end?

State Sen. Tim Burchett pushes ban on traffic ticket quotas

By ERICA ESTEP
6 News Anchor/Reporter
April 29, 2010

KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Republican State Sen. Tim Burchett, who's also running for Knox County mayor, is pushing legislation to ban traffic ticket quotas.

Burchett's bill would block law enforcement agencies from using formal quota policies or even informal guidelines. Breaking the ban could even put government officials out of office.

"It just says that you can't force officers to write a certain number of tickets. Obviously that just creates a hunting license and that's not what we want," Burchett says.

"We could write tickets all day long for people speeding through Knoxville. We all know that," says Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) Sgt. Ken Rose.

But Sgt. Rose says that's not what his job is all about. He says THP doesn't have quotas or any other incentive for the number of tickets officers write.

"Nobody gets paid any more for any more tickets they write," Sgt. Rose adds. "If I write one ticket a week, I get paid the same thing as somebody that writes 100 tickets a week."

Sen. Burchett says he knows of communities where the practice is common, but he declined to name them. He believes the state needs a law to stop the practice.

"In some of the smaller communities, obviously, it's just a means of, it's just a cash cow. It's their number one industry," Burchett says.

Sgt. Rose works all over East Tennessee and he thinks the senator is onto something. "I think it's a good idea to have a law to make sure that doesn't happen because it may influence some smaller community police departments or sheriff's departments to come up with some sort of ticket quota system to fund their budgets."

Officers often set up around schools, construction zones and areas that have high crash rates, but they say they're not expected to write any more tickets when they do.

A new law wouldn't change their enforcement efforts, as Burchett explains, "It doesn't stop them from arresting or pulling people over for speeding. It just doesn't make them go out hunting for them."

Knox County Sheriff J.J. Jones says, "Under my leadership, the Knox County Sheriff's Office has never had ticket quotas and will never have them as long as I am sheriff."

Knoxville Police Chief Sterling Owen says, "The proposed bill is designed to stop communities from simply writing tickets to meet budget needs. The Knoxville Police Department's enforcement efforts are driven by safety and not revenue. The need for enforcement is determined by careful analysis that shows problems with crashes as well as citizen complaints we receive either directly to the department or through city council members."

The bill has already passed the Senate Transportation Committee. It's currently moving through the House.

SB 2703 by *Burchett

HB 2952 by *Brooks H, Hardaway, Haynes, Faulkner.

Local Government, General - As introduced, prohibits law enforcement officers from being punished or rewarded according to number of traffic citations issued or collected upon. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 16 and Title 55, Chapter 8.

Fiscal Summary
MINIMAL

Bill Summary

This bill prohibits a political subdivision or any agency of this state from establishing or maintaining, formally or informally, a plan to evaluate, promote, compensate or discipline a law enforcement officer according to the officer's issuance of a predetermined or specified number of traffic citations. This bill further prohibits a political subdivision or any agency of this state from requiring or suggesting to a law enforcement officer that the officer is required or expected to issue a predetermined or specified number of traffic citations within a specified period.

Under state statutory law, any person holding a state, county, or municipal office is subject to removal from such office for any of the following, unless the removal of such person is otherwise provided for: (1) Knowingly committing misconduct in office; (2) Knowingly neglecting to perform any duty mandated by any of the laws of the state; (3) Voluntary public intoxication; (4) Any form of gambling; or (5) Any act constituting a violation of any penal statute involving moral turpitude. This bill specifies that any elected official who violates its provisions commits an offense for which such official could be removed from office as discussed above. If the person who violates the provisions of this bill is not an elected official, then such person would be subject to disciplinary action, including removal from such person's position.

This bill specifies that it does not prohibit any political subdivision or agency of the state from establishing performance standards for law enforcement officers that include issuance of traffic citations, but do not require issuance of a predetermined or specified number or any type or combination of types of citations as the sole means of meeting such performance standards.

DEEP THOUGHTS

For decades, speed was the subject of the most widespread slogans drummed into the public. "Speed kills" and "slow down and live" are familiar ones peddled by the National Safety Council.... The findings showed a more complex picture of the role of speed than had ever been assumed before. Accident involvement rates are at a minimum at speeds between fifty and seventy five miles per hour.... Although obviously the severity of accidents is greater at higher speeds, the study revealed that considering accident frequency rates and severity, the number of injuries per vehicle miles traveled is at its minimum [up to six times lower].
--Ralph Nader, from Unsafe at Any Speed -- The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile, quoting David Soloman in "Accidents on Main Rural Highways Related to Speed, Driver and Vehicle," FHwA (1964)

The use of courts as local revenue-producing agencies is an abuse of the judicial process. It has long been recognized as unconstitutional for a judge's income to be dependent on the outcome of cases. But a similar result often occurs when the budget of a court is set in relation to the fines the court imposes or when a county or city comes to rely on whatever surplus is produced.
–To Serve All People: A report from the Commission on the Future of the Tennessee Judicial System 1996

Let it be understood once and for all, that the function of the traffic court is to convict the guilty, acquit the innocent, and improve traffic safety, not to be merely an arm of any revenue-collecting office.
–Judge Alfred Nesbitt, Florida v. Aquilera, et. al., State v. 711-101S Dade Co. (1979 FL -- the RADAR case of the 86 MPH tree and the 28 MPH house)

Strictly local municipal courts offer a separate, substandard justice and warrant a thourough review on their own. . . . At their worst, they are merely revenue-gathering agencies masquerading as courts. Their sole reason for being is the funds that their municipality draws from them. If the funds disappeared, few of the cities would consider the court an important civic service. Their limits and oversight are ill-defined, and their flexibility can sometimes disguise mere arbitrariness. . . . We believe they fall much closer to the worst model than to the best one. A majority of complaints about judges that come to the Administrative Office of the Courts originate with municipal courts. . . . [T]he financial interest of local government clearly rests with the present system.
–To Serve All People: A report from the Commission on the Future of the Tennessee Judicial System 1996

We should cease to talk about vague…and unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we will have to deal with straight power concepts. The less we are hampered with idealistic slogans, the better…. The final answer might be an unpleasant one, but…we should not hesitate before police repression by the local government. This is not shameful…. It is better to have a strong regime in power than a liberal government if it is indulgent and relaxed.
--George Kennan, U.S. State Department

JOKE OF THE DAY

What is the difference between God and a traffic cop?
God doesn't think he's a traffic cop.