Police officers should give traffic tickets based on whether drivers actually violate the law, and not because the officers are ordered to have a quota of tickets. Writing traffic tickets should not be a way to fund police departments or local governments. Law enforcement should be independent from any government funding to ensure the integrity of the police and the government.

In the past, many law enforcement departments required that their police officers give a specific number of speeding tickets and other tickets or a specific number of fines each year. While many states and counties within those states are funded differently to ensure tickets are given based on citizen misconduct and not to fund the police departments, recent discoveries indicate that quotas are back – and that for many departments, they never left.

The Baltimore Banner published excerpts from leaked emails about a Maryland State Police quota system that illustrates some of the pressures state police officers experience to ramp up the number of traffic tickets they issue:

“The reason I requested your Goals and Expectations several weeks ago was to evaluate what you, as supervisors, are asking of your guys every month. Unanimously, you all expect 100 stops on average, 2-4 DUIs and 1-2…”

“Numbers are down across the State of Maryland, but some are down more than others. We need to reverse the trend. Both you and I, when we’re on the road, did much more statistically wise than what we are seeing now.”

In the La Plata Barrack, the commander ordered supervisors with troopers who fell below their monthly numbers to write detailed reports about why the trooper ”under-performed,” as well as what type of ”corrective action” was taken, according to one email The Banner reviewed. That policy was put into place in the fall of last year.

The Baltimore Banner reviewed a dozen documents, including the leaked email, that raise concerns about whether the Maryland State Police’s “expectations” system is a law enforcement quota system. The documents reviewed by the publication state that troopers are judged, rewarded, and even disciplined, throughout Maryland based on the agency’s expectation system. The Maryland State Police agency states that “work productivity is only one out of 15 performance factors and standards used to evaluate a trooper’s performance.”

Another leaked email said the troopers who fall below expectations two months in a row will have it noted on their performance record and will be reviewed for corrective actions.

The publication found that these expectations come into conflict with public safety. Based on a review of some of the emails and documents, Michael Scott, the director of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing at Arizona State University said the Maryland State Police Approach is flawed.

Scott stated that documents/memos should help troopers but that “enforcement metrics” do more harm than good – and don’t increase public safety. As an example, officers can make more of a public safety difference by focusing on finding ways to reduce “traffic fatalities or alcohol-related crashes on [any given] stretch of road.” It’s also not fair to the public because focusing on metrics means officers stop drivers and write tickets when they otherwise wouldn’t.

The Baltimore Banner review showed that:

  • Some demands were made for officers to meet a certain number of traffic stops over just a two-night period to meet monthly targets.
  • One supervisor threatened to require that a trooper meet a daily minimum.
  • Other documents, which span seven different State Police barracks and include discussions with current and former state troopers, emphasize the weight troopers feel under the “expectations” system. The “expectations” practice is not confined to the Maryland Eastern Shore.
  • The state police had a “points system.” Some barracks assigned points for different types of events such as DUI arrests (60 points) and traffic stops (10 points). In one email, the points system was used by one barrack to decide which troopers would get new vehicles.
  • “One trooper, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the record, described the Maryland State Police as ‘the most stat-driven agency I have ever worked for.’”

The response of the Maryland State Police

The agency gave the following statement regarding the concerns about “enforcement metrics.”

In accordance with state protocols and with Maryland State Police policy, supervisors who choose to provide troopers with performance expectations may use average figures, ranges of numbers, or approximations to assess reasonable levels of performance across a number of factors — like any other job.

We are accountable to the citizens we serve for our level of criminal and traffic enforcement across the state.

Even though the Maryland General Assembly heavily restricted law enforcement quotas in 2006, laws were introduced to tighten the ban.

Criminal law professor David Jaros said that the inability to properly control ticket quotas raises concerns about other police regulations efforts.

Some lawyers have already filed lawsuits. One class action lawsuit claims that the expectations requirement acts like a quota and is racially discriminatory because the penalties for not meeting those expectations were harsher for Black and Hispanic troopers. Another lawsuit claims a trooper was wrongfully terminated because the trooper failed to meet traffic stop metrics and other expectation minimums.

At Drew Cochran, Attorney at Law, our Annapolis and Ellicott City traffic ticket defense lawyer has helped numerous drivers successfully fight traffic tickets and keep their licenses. I aggressively challenge the various legal and factual requirements the police must meet to prove that you were not speeding or did not violate any other traffic law. I also am respected by prosecutors for my ability to defend drivers charged with DUI or DWI offenses. To assert all your defenses, please call me as soon as you receive a traffic ticket or you have been arrested. Please call me or complete my contact form to schedule a consultation.

Remember: Keep Calm – and Call Drew.