Cops in the 77th Told to Meet Quotas
The NYPD says there’s no such thing as a ticket quota, but memos posted at a Brooklyn stationhouse say otherwise.
Two notices obtained by the Daily News clearly spell out how many moving-violation summonses cops should be handing out.
The memos were posted in a roll call room for the stationhouse of the crime-ridden 77th Precinct, which covers Crown Heights and Prospect Heights.
The one for the week of April 5 to April 11 began, “Good day we need the following” – then gave the number of tickets to give drivers for cell phone, seat belt, double-parking, bus stop, tinted window and truck route violations.
The notice instructed officers to hand out the summonses at accident-prone locations and specified five intersections.
A memo for Oct. 18 to Oct. 24 also itemized the number of summonses in the six moving-violation categories.
For example, it said the precinct needed to tally 75 summonses for talking on a cell phone while driving, and 50 seat belt violations.
A source said similar memos for other time periods were also posted.
When The News inquired about the memos last week, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said an officer had posted them without approval.
“If it were an authorized posting, it would indicate by the authority of the commanding officer,” Browne said. “This was neither authorized nor compelled.”
He added that it was unknown why the memos were posted but that the officer was instructed to stop.
Despite the lack of authorization, the notices stayed up for weeks in the roll call room – where officers get orders from supervisors before going on duty, a source said.
Police union spokesman Al O’Leary said it would be surprising for an officer to post the memos without consent from above.
“There is no reason for one of our members to put up something like this,” he said.
Quotas became a hot-button issue earlier this year after whistleblower cop Adrian Schoolcraft recorded a supervisor in the 81st Precinct vowing to go after officers who don’t make at least one arrest a month.
State law prohibits police from using quotas – or setting a target number for arrests or summonses during a specific time frame.
The NYPD has denied the practice for years.
Browne said the department “does not impose quotas but it has productivity goals related to actual conditions in a given command.”
Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said his union has long battled the use of quotas.
“Quotas are bad for the community because they take away an officer’s discretion, which is so important to building a relationship with the neighborhood they patrol,” he said.
“The PBA has successfully taken action against management for illegal quotas and we will continue to do so when solid evidence surfaces.”
The notices in the 77th Precinct may not have been very effective. As of Oct. 17, the precinct had handed out 7,937 moving violations, a 4.4% decline from a year earlier, NYPD figures show.
