CINCINNATI, Ohio — A new state law prohibits police departments across Ohio from using ticket quotas as part of evaluating officer performance, WKRC reported.
Ohio Senate Bill 114, which went into effect on Sept. 30, aims to eliminate long-standing concerns that officer promotions and disciplinary actions were tied to citation numbers.
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The law prevents agencies from requiring officers to meet a minimum number of traffic stops, tickets or arrests for evaluation purposes. Lawmakers behind the bill say the change is intended to improve public trust in law enforcement.
Ken Kober, president of the Cincinnati Police Union, noted that although quotas are not widely used anymore, the public perception that they exist still influences how officers are viewed.
“Whether it was the end of the month or the beginning of the month, if you got stopped and you’re speeding, you would hear it from certain people. They go, ‘Oh, I guess you’re just trying to meet your quota for the month,’” Kober said.
State Representative Phil Plummer, who formerly served as sheriff in Montgomery County, was one of the bill’s leading voices. He described quotas as outdated and said removing them allows officers to better exercise discretion when enforcing the law.
“If you take away their discretion by mandating quotas and certain citations, it doesn’t bode well for police-community relationships,” Plummer said.
In addition to banning quotas, the law requires the Ohio Attorney General to establish a system that allows officers to report any use of quotas within their departments. The system will include an anonymous reporting option to protect whistleblowers, according to the report.
With the passage of the bill, Ohio becomes the 27th state to ban the use of ticket quotas in law enforcement.
What impact do you think Ohio’s ban on ticket quotas will have on officer discretion and community trust?
Police1 readers respond:
- I was an officer with a suburban Ohio department that, for public consumption, ostensibly had a “No Quota” policy — every evaluation I had included an “objective” that was essentially a quota. They need to do away with objectives and require supervisors to take time and make an effort to evaluate the quality of performance; example, DUI arrests vs DUI convictions.
- Performance evaluations are based (partially) on “violator contacts”, not citations. The officer has discretion to determine whether a citation or a warning is the best course of action to modify driver behavior. Sometimes, a warning will suffice. Frequently, though, the violator will not take the issue seriously unless they try to explain their driving habits to a judge.
- This legislation seems to be directed at solely issuance of citations. Officers can just as easily issue warnings. The highlighted issue with this should be the proactivity, not necessarily a citation. How can we promote lazy officers into positions of leadership that will ask officers to do things they never did in that same position?
- I honestly can’t believe this is even an issue anymore. Ticket quotas were always a horrible idea. They are insanely counterproductive. There is absolutely a place for local agencies. The problem directly affects the states, counties, and municipalities. We should all be working together to protect our national borders.
- I’m an officer in New York State. This year, there was a period of time that, due to call volume and weather, we were unable to write the amount of tickets they expected. The town accused the union of striking and fined the majority of patrol. This is a state where quotas are illegal as well.
- Quotas should already be illegal. The statement made by my PSP brothers when I was new was “we don’t have a quota — you can write as many as you want.” That said, when I later became a supervisor and a trooper’s obligated time was minimal and so were their numbers, they had to explain just what they were doing that prevented them from writing citations.
- One more unnecessary law. If it is not a thing why make it a law.
- We never had quotas. We could write all we wanted to.
- When quotas were banned in my state, the Sgt. said it’s a " performance goal”....
- Ridiculous! Police are supposed to enforce traffic laws. If there is no way to make them work, then what is preventing them from doing nothing? I do not want officers on the payroll that want to sit and do nothing and get a good paycheck for absolutely nothing. How can you tie the hands of police departments to protect the lazy!?
