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Most police departments would say, "Not us. No way do we have quotas." Our favorite quote comes from the Brockton Police Department in Massachusetts: "No sir, we don't have quotas anymore. We used to have quotas, but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we want." What is a quota? What is a goal? What is an objective? Getting a straight answer is difficult, but that's what keeps investigative news organizations busy. In June 2005, MSNBC reported that the New York City police department used a quota system. In that story, two police sergeants said they were assigned quotas, and their supervisor admitted writing a memo in which quotas were only part of an officer's assessment, but blah, blah,
blah. In the great city of Cincinnati, WLWT-TV looked into this question and found that an officer received a punitive transfer for not meeting his quota. Was it really a quota, though, or was it a goal? A supervising officer doesn't believe that the words "goal" and "quota" mean the same thing. Is there a difference? You decide. Similar inquires in Baltimore produced different results. WBAL-TV reporter Darrielle Snipes conducted a five-month investigation and concluded: No quotas. Let's hear it for Baltimore! So it seems some police departments have
quotas, and some don't. As for when you're most likely to get a ticket, we recommend doing as we do with our Dodge Stratus: Drive carefully at the end of anything -- shift, day, week, or month.
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