At least in my part of NJ, we were always warned to watch out for cops while driving at the end of a month. The conventional wisdom was that cops had to meet their ticket quotas, so are generally looking for any violations to ticket drivers.
These days, it’s not something I’m concerned with, as I rarely drive more than 5 mph over the speed limit (10 mph over on highways). But in the town next to mine, the streets all have 25 mph speed limits that are rarely, if ever, enforced for most of the month. And sure enough, during the last weekend of the month, I see cars pulled over all over the place. I assume weekends are best politically, as they can get out-of-towners who are visiting, instead of the voting locals.
So, is it true that cops have ticket quotas that they must hit? And if so, why would they wait until the end of a month instead of “keeping pace” all month?
Related question (that might be better for FQ): why don’t cars have a “max speed” option that never allows the car to go faster than a speed specified by the driver? Considering they all have cruise control, this would seem to be technologically possible.
According to this Wiki article, most officially deny it, some even officially ban it in places, but there are ways to skirt the issue. Ticket quota - Wikipedia
Another article from Wiki How about not calling them “quotas” per se, but wording them as vague “goals” and “objectives”. Do Cops Have Quotas? The Truth Behind the Tickets
The end of the month also coincides with the 30th which is when a lot of people get paid and might stop off for a few drinks (or worse). Cops might just be pulling over more drivers on suspicion of DUI.
There are options on some vehicles to limit your cruising speed to a certain mph above the posted speed limit, I’ve set it myself on long drives where I didn’t want to get lulled into speeding up a little more and more. I found that I often ignored it so I stopped using it. I’d be driving through South Dakato and realize that setting the cruise to go no more than 85 mph was crazy when everyone else was going 95 mph. My vehicle actually reads the road signs and attempts to reset the cruise speed based upon the latest sign reading, I ignore that as well.
As for quotos, those are illegal in some states to the point where the department doesn’t get extra funding no matter how many tickets they write. But in many states the department writing the tickets have incentive to write as many as possible and indivudual locations can and will set quotas wheter they admit to it or not. The end of the month thing is often just people being people, putting things off until the last minute and then playing catch up.
There’s probably some kind of guideline. If one officer is writing far fewer tickets than average for a few consecutive months, they may have a problem.
There was a line in one of Joseph Wambaugh’s novels (“The Blue Knight”?) about a cop who stopped a driver on a traffic violation. In response to his protest that he was being victimized by a ticket quota, the officer said “No, I can write all the tickets I want.”
I notice several days per month when there are multiple police cars observing traffic on my way to work. They’re not usually there. But on days when they are there, it’s many of them strung out along my route.
Maybe it has nothing to do with ticket quotas or goals. Perhaps they are just devoting a day here and there to intensified traffic enforcement. Whatever it is, it strikes me as rather obvious and drivers seem to anticipate them.
My Kia Soul has an indicator that tells me of the local speed limit, with a little bell that goes off when it is passed and a visual of the speed limit…usually. It seems that when travelling through some areas with a short but sudden speed drop and a small speed limit sign just around a corner or maybe partially hidden, no signal is sent out to my vehicle. Surprise-ticket time!
Whether they have ticket “quotas” or “productivity goals” is going to depend on specifics like which department or unit you’re talking about. There certainly isn’t going to be any written quota.
And if so, why would they wait until the end of a month instead of “keeping pace” all month?
From what I’ve seen ( which is mostly parking tickets*) there’s not an intention to wait until the end of the month, but just like in any activity, if you are expected to do X per month and realize a week before the end of the month you have only done half that number, you will do a disproportionate amount in that last week.
* I worked for a state agency and we had placards that allowed us to park contrary to certain regulations. Every so often, a line of our cars would be ticketed for the regulations we were permited to violate. It was always toward the end of the month and the tickets were always dismissed - but obviously what counted was the tickets written with no adjustment for dismissals.
I’ve noticed this in my county (but since I’m retired and not driving nearly as much, I haven’t detected a pattern.) Chances are if you see on sheriff or state trooper on 235, you’ll soon pass another. And if you see a car pulled over, you’re likely to see another LEO down the road. I assume they take turns enforcing speed limits on the main drags, but I have no facts to back that up.
I drove the same seven mile stretch of the 101 thousands of times over my 30 year commute and never got a ticket because I didn’t speed and I knew every one of the nooks where the CHP would hide with their radar guns. There’d be a coupe of times a year where they’d have a few of them hanging out for the week and writing lots of tickets. I assumed that it was because they wanted people to slow down and it was a good reminder until the average speed picked up again.
In Massachusetts ticket quotas are supposed to be illegal from a decision of the state’s highest court.
But I know in the town I am in, there are a group of officers (three, we are a small town) who are primarily traffic enforcement who have a budget line item for share of traffic fines.
And performance vs these goals is reviewed every month. There is a lag of several months between issuing a ticket and the state releasing the funds. There are formulas that determine what percentage the town gets based on what kind of road (local, state numbered highway, limited access highway). Town cops do not patrol the limited access highways.
I do know from meetings I have been in, that the revenue from tickets is a priority that is discussed a lot more than actual safety when deciding where to deploy the officers.
I was a city councilman for 3 years back in the 70’s and you are correct about the Budgeted line item. The small police dept. had to produce enough in the way of ticket revenue to support itself
The article I cited mentions the story of Edmonston, which apparently caught the attention of a Missouri lawmaker when a letter the chief had written to his department got leaked and the media found it.
“I wish to take this opportunity to remind you that the tickets that you write do add to the revenue on which the P.D. budget is established and will directly affect pay adjustments at budget time,” the mayor wrote in his letter. “As budget time approaches, please make a self evaluation of your work habits and motivations, then make the changes that you see that will be fair to yourself and the city.”
I’m confused by this. As you note, cruise control (which is pretty standard) allows the driver to set a certain speed which the car will maintain.
How is this different than a car not going faster than a speed specified by the driver? Are you saying that a car could be permanently set at 55mph, for example, and then never be able to go above that speed even if the driver changed their mind and wanted to go faster?
I don’t think there would be many customers for a car like that, where drivers were permanently giving up their future options.