Do Police Officers Have Quotas?

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Eric McClure. Eric McClure is an editing fellow at wikiHow where he has been editing, researching, and creating content since 2019. A former educator and poet, his work has appeared in Carcinogenic Poetry, Shot Glass Journal, Prairie Margins, and The Rusty Nail. His digital chapbook, The Internet, was also published in TL;DR Magazine. He was the winner of the Paul Carroll award for outstanding achievement in creative writing in 2014, and he was a featured reader at the Poetry Foundation’s Open Door Reading Series in 2015. Eric holds a BA in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an MEd in secondary education from DePaul University.

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”You’re just trying to meet your quota!” yells the citizen watching the police officer write a ticket for an illegally parked vehicle. But are quotas just an urban myth, or do police really have to write a certain number of tickets every month? The answer is surprisingly complex (and interesting), but basically, yes. A lot of police departments do have quotas—just not in the way you think! Read on to learn more.

Are police department quotas real?

Police departments in the US often have quotas but don’t call them “quotas.” Instead, departments may use phrases like “targets” and “objectives” to incentivize officers to write more tickets or make more arrests. However, quotas are illegal in 20 states and many individual police departments don’t employ quotas.

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Do police departments really have quotas?

Police departments in super-large cities are less likely to have quotas since there’s more political oversight. Quotas also appear to be less common in super-small towns with tiny police forces that don’t need the revenue. [2] X Research source
The money from the tickets written by officers with quotas doesn’t usually go to the department. It gets split up between city and state funding. If the city and state are happy though, the police department is likely to get more support. [3] X Research source

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Is it legal for police departments to have quotas?

States with a quota ban include Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

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How Police Departments Get around Quota Laws

If there is a specific number of arrests or tickets set as the “goal” or “target,” it’s functionally the same thing as a quota since the incentive is for officers to arrest a certain number of people or write a certain number of tickets—not only when it’s necessary.

Captains and superintendents punish cops who don’t write tickets. It’s less common than simply disguising a quota as something else, but there are examples of police departments punishing officers who don’t stick with the program. [6] X Research source For example, an officer may be demoted, sent to desk duty, denied overtime, or punished with bad performance reviews if they consistently don’t meet targets. [7] X Research source

Departments reward officers who write a lot of tickets. In some police departments, quotas are enforced via social pressure and rewards. [8] X Research source For example, an officer who consistently writes the most tickets or makes the most arrests will be promoted or given more overtime. This can create a feedback loop where the entire department is eventually just pushing for higher and higher quotas. [9] X Research source

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What’s wrong with quotas?

This is why many police departments are beginning to revise their methods for promoting officers. More arrests and more tickets does not automatically mean a police officer is good at their job. An officer who occasionally lets people off with a warning or doesn’t arrest someone for minor violations is probably better for the community in the long run! [11] X Research source

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Researching Quotas in Your State or Town

If you live in a major city, you can usually just google, “Detroit Police Policies” or “New York City Law Enforcement Handbook” to get the info you need.
It’s possible a police department still has a quota even if there’s nothing on the books if the quota manifests as an unwritten social pressure to maximize arrests/tickets.

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Avoiding Tickets in Areas with Quotas

There seems to be a huge overlap between “police departments who have quotas” and “police departments who employ speed traps,” so don’t give them an opportunity to pull you over.

Stay up to date on your registration and insurance. Always keep your car street-legal. Update your state (and city, if necessary) registration to ensure your car is never unregistered. Also, keep your insurance up to date. Police officers have a very easy time running your plate to see if the insurance or registration is out of date.

Step 3 Practice defensive driving to stay safe on the road." width="460" height="345" />

Practice defensive driving to stay safe on the road. Let people turn, brake early when approaching a light or another car, and keep the gap between you and the car in front of you sizable. If you put yourself in a situation where you have to make an evasive maneuver or speed up to avoid danger, you could end up in the eyes of a police cruiser. [14] X Research source

This is especially important when it comes to anything where you’re going to be consuming alcohol and going out in public. If you’re doing a pub crawl in Prague, visiting Bourbon Street in New Orleans, or going out in Miami Beach, play it safe to avoid attracting unwanted attention from an officer.

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