Quota Time: fact or fiction?

In the 3 years or so I have been driving, I have on several occasions heard from primarily friends who are really shitty drivers that it is unwise to speed (particularly on the freeway) towards the end of the month because this is “quota time”, during which state and local troopers (at least in NC) are far more likely to pull people over in order to meet a monthly quota. Very recently, it occurred to me all at once that this strongly resembled bullshit. Cops are required to pull over a minimum number of drivers per month? Come on. Please. Does anyone know anything about this, or should I chalk it all up to urban legend?
–Flup!

Depends on where you live, I guess.

Several years ago in Houston, the police went on a “quota strike”–they simply refused to write tickets. IIRC, one of their demands was the elimination or reduction of what they considered an unfair tickets-per-month quota.

I don’t remember what the end result of the strike was.

-David

Around here it’s in the papers a lot that meter readers are on quotas. I’m not sure if they are monthly, but it has something to do with the city budget. Some contenders want to make meters “revenue neutral”, so they only serve the original purpose of spreading around the available spaces. Under that plan, if parking wasn’t tight in an area, no stores would complain and parking infractions would get less priority. That doesn’t sound fair to the people who pay, though, so it’s always in the To The Editor page.

Well, if nothing else, I can now feel completely exempt from obeying the speed limit for at least the first week of the month. :rolleyes:

Where I live, I’d heard that quotas are illegal, as they encourage police to pull over people for BS reasons just fill fill the requisite number.

So instead of quotas, they have “Suggested Performance Standards” Oh yeah, huge difference, huh? :rolleyes:

I asked a policeman friend of mine if they had quotas for tickets…He said,“Nope, I can write as many as I want”…

I can’t speak for state troopers, but my best friend back home is married to a county cop, so I can tell you that they don’t have quotas officially, but one of the criteria they are judged on for job performance is tickets. Basically, if they’re not writing a certain number of them a month, it implies they’re not doing their job. Having an “in” with the local police, of course, takes care of my ticket worries–not that I get pulled over all that often, but still. “Gee, you look familiar, do you know X? I thought maybe I’d seen you at a party at his house or something…yeah, I’m friends with his wife, Y. Why, thank you so much, Officer, I certainly appreciate that.”

OK, so quotas do actually exist. i think that’s fucking retarded, but Geobabe’s explanation makes sense. I think it’s unfair that they have to deal a certain number of penalties in a certain amount of time, though, regardless. But it’s good that it makes me think, you know? Cops get a bad rap for the most part, and I’m as guilty of it as anyone else, I guess. But It’s good to realize that cops aren’t the assholes, largely. They have to keep their jobs.
I guess they’re well-intended for the most part, although a few are just pretty much licensed thugs. Oh well.
Goddam bureaucracy.

–Flup!

Ask any cop about quotas and they will swear that they don’t exist. Ask any ex-cop whether they exist and you’ll get a wink and a knowing nudge.

A couple of paragraphs from a loooong article in the Washington Post, many moons ago:

Remember this in case you ever get screwed by parking enforcement.