Two states expect to cancel “ticket quotas”

New York and Oklahoma legislators are going to ban law enforcement officers from carrying out penalty plans.

In certain regions, fines compose a disproportionate amount of local revenues. In order to prevent this, 20 states have already taken measures to ban a certain number of fines that law enforcement issues to drivers.

A New York bill aims to eliminate the potential abuses associated with “ticket quotas.”

The bill is sponsored by Senator Michael Gianaris (D-Queens). The violation would constitute a class A misdemeanor, which could result in a prison sentence of up to one year.

“Tickets, summons, traffic citations and arrests should be utilized by a police officer when he or she feels that the circumstances are appropriate, rather than in order to satisfy arbitrary quota requirements,” Gianaris wrote in the bill memo. “To establish a quota for an officer to meet a certain number of summonses or arrests is a disservice to his or her trained and professional judgment, and unfair to those who receive such citations.”

A bill by Senator Nathan Dam (R-Broken Arrow) also addresses this issue. State law prohibits cities and towns from deriving more than half of their income from traffic tickets.

The new bill would prohibit local governments and police departments from requiring officers to issue a predetermined number of tickets within a specified period of time. In addition, agencies will be prohibited from evaluating or punishing personnel based on the number of fines issued or arrests made. Violators face removal from office.

Bills from both states are under consideration by Senate committees.