When it comes to traffic tickets, several people claim to ‘know’ that officers have quotas on how many tickets they are supposed to write in any given month. If you ask any Florida local law enforcement officer, they will assure you that there are no quotas in their department. At least that is what they all tell me. The fear of traffic infraction quotas is that the officers are writing to meet quotas and not for the traffic violation itself.
I am also told, however, that officers designated as traffic enforcement officers, like all other police or employees are reviewed. At those reviews, the number of tickets the cop writes is tracked. This means that the departments are tracking the numbers. Essentially at a traffic enforcement officer’s review the supervisor will know how many tickets the officer wrote and can compare that number to other officers. Cops with low traffic ticket numbers are apparently given lower performance reviews. What is the officer doing out there if not writing traffic tickets? While Gainesville, Waldo, Lawtey, Ocala and Florida Highway Patrol have all denied to me that quotas exist, they do admit the number of traffic citations are kept and reviewed.
In at least one state, the fear of quotas was so great that the governor recently signed a bill into law banning ticket quotas. According to the article I read, Illinois’ Governor said the move was to boost public trust and prevent motorists from facing unnecessary anxiety when they encounter a police vehicle. Quotas are bad but if the officers are needing that to motivate them to enforce the laws, then maybe we should reexamine why they are officers to begin with.
Anybody traveling in Bradford or Alachua County should know that towns like Waldo and Lawtey have no issues writing a high volume of tickets. Honestly all you have to do is observe traffic on I-75 in Marion, Alachua or Columbia County to see that no quotas are needed and that the troopers can write speeding tickets all day long.
If you or a loved one received a ticket in Alachua, Bradford, Columbia or Marion County, then please click, call or fill out the form at the top right for a consultation.
Gainesville (352) 371-9141
Ocala (352) 694-4529