NCJ Number
212672
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 53 Issue: 12 Dated: December 2005 Pages: 14,16,18,20
Date Published
December 2005
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the topic of quotas in law enforcement and presents survey data regarding the existence of quotas in law enforcement agencies around the country.
Abstract
Law enforcement quotas have a bad name both within law enforcement and among the public. Quota systems are essentially points systems for certain types of arrests and traffic stops that in turn reward officers who meet the allotted number of arrests or traffic tickets. Of the 30 law enforcement agencies that responded to the author’s survey, 100 percent reported that they did not have quota systems and had no plans to implement quota systems. Despite the disavowals of quota systems made by the responding agencies, there remains a great deal of controversy regarding their perceived existence. The article offers several case examples of law enforcement agencies that have become embroiled with the community over the perceived use of quotas for traffic tickets. In many of these cases, the public perceived officers to be working under a quota system as a revenue raising exercise for local law enforcement. Examples are also offered of law enforcement agencies that criticize quota systems as valuing quantity over quality law enforcement work. The perception of quota systems as driving law enforcement work is not likely to diminish any time soon; indeed, law enforcement agencies often must rely on hard data, such as the number of traffic tickets written, in order to analyze crime problems as well as agency effectiveness.