Question about CPS and quotas

[LUDELVR]

Just wondering what the word is on if CPS has quotas for their officers regarding tickets. I've heard many people say they do; however, everyone I've spoken to disagrees and says it's a myth and they in fact do not have quotas.

My thinking is that if they do, it would be contradictory in many cases of handing out the tickets that they do and it might be argued that the tickets was given on grounds of meeting a quota. That being said, if they do in fact have quotas and don't wish the public to know about it, could they label it as something else so it's not a "quota" per se but still some sort of incentive to give out more tickets within a given month?

I'm just pondering this and if anyone does "IN FACT" know that CPS does have a quota, could that person chime in. I'm going to presume that the CPS members on the board will say they don't simply because they don't want to incriminate themselves or their brethren but from what I've heard from my friends' CPS mates is that they do in fact have a quota. I just like to get more insight from others. :thumbsup:

[Tik-Tok]

I believe one of our resident CPS members said they don't have "official" quota's, but if they don't hit a certain number every month, it looks really bad on their reviews (for promotions, raises, etc.)

edit:


Originally posted by phil98z24
Now that I am up and about after working night shift, I will come forward and help backup what Dayglow said and clear some of this up.

There is a non-mandatory performance expectation that has been mandated by management for a measure of officer productivity, including summons. However, for street level patrol officers this is not something that is enforced to the level it will hold you back for promotion or anything of that sort, as we are also measured by our criminal charges, warrants, reports, investigative time, etc. From what I understand, the traffic guys DO have a quota to meet as there entire mandate is traffic related enforcement and this is a criteria for how effectively they are doing their work in relation to where they have been mandated to improve traffic related safety - I think this makes sense.

The whole thing about commission is entirely untrue, and none of that money makes its way back to each district. Some money goes into city coffers, but most of it goes back to the province as a lot of the tickets written in this city are for bylaw/provincial offences, and not traffic.

[FraserB]

I think they said the traffic unit has to have x amount of "interactions", but a regular patrol officer does not.

Even if they do have quotas, it makes no difference. Just means that more people who are already breaking the law are going to be pulled over.

[lilmira]

I thought filling quota is one way to show that they having been doing their job. If they have been busy dealing with other duties then it doesn't matter.

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
I believe one of our resident CPS members said they don't have "official" quota's, but if they don't hit a certain number every month, it looks really bad on their reviews (for promotions, raises, etc.)

edit:



Yeah, I thought there was a thread a while back but I couldn't remember which one it was. Cheers for the reminder!

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by FraserB
I think they said the traffic unit has to have x amount of "interactions", but a regular patrol officer does not.

Even if they do have quotas, it makes no difference. Just means that more people who are already breaking the law are going to be pulled over.

I was having a discussion the other day about traffic tickets and then remembered how many people on and off this board say that they are "innocent" and it was a bogus charge and I wonder if in fact a number of these people are in fact innocent and if the ticket was quota driven. If it was quota driven, how do people fight it and what would an argument be?

For the most part, we've seen that people are genuinely guilty; however, it's not impossible that an officer might give a ticket that is undeserved.

[Isaiah]

Originally posted by kenny

I don't think this will really change anything. Some cops will still be going to the usual speeding spots to write the tickets they need when they need to.


Police are no longer under as much pressure to target you for traffic tickets.

Officers had been expected to write 20 tickets per month -- or one per shift.

Now, they only have to write 20 if they are not busy.

Police Association president Al Koenig says it's a welcome break.

"It was almost like they were being chained to a radar gun," he told Global News.

"The difficulty that we had was there may be a case where officers were training recruits, and they would still be required to bring 20 summons in for themselves when their primary function was to be teaching new recruits how to do policing."

The police chief as never admitted to imposing a quota. He says all members had, and still do have, a reasonable expectation to write tickets -- with no numbers attached.

"If they were busy on other issues for example: investigations, community projects, answering calls to service," chief Jack Beaton told Global News, "of course, we didn't expect them to come up with one summons per shift. So, we're taking that back into account."

Now, it will be up to an officer's supervisor to make the call.

Koenig says it won't necessarily mean fewer tickets, and that you can still expect to be pulled over if you're breaking the law.

"I think what you're going to see is more balanced enforcement," he said.

"You're going to see the drivers who know where the fishing holes are.

"They can start looking over their shoulder because our officers now have the latitude to go after them or wait for them."

Police say they're not worried they'll lose some of the $22 million in revenue from traffic fines every year with the new rule in place, because most fines went up last May.


http://www.canada.com/calgary/story...37-97D5C19ED254

But the link is dead now.

[FraserB]

Originally posted by LUDELVR


I was having a discussion the other day about traffic tickets and then remembered how many people on and off this board say that they are "innocent" and it was a bogus charge and I wonder if in fact a number of these people are in fact innocent and if the ticket was quota driven. If it was quota driven, how do people fight it and what would an argument be?

For the most part, we've seen that people are genuinely guilty; however, it's not impossible that an officer might give a ticket that is undeserved.

So you're saying that a cop would pull someone over with no tint and give them a tint ticket? Or a speeding ticket for a driver who was not speeding? All to meet a quota that does not exist and risk criminal charges and dismissal from the force?

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by FraserB


So you're saying that a cop would pull someone over with no tint and give them a tint ticket? Or a speeding ticket for a driver who was not speeding? All to meet a quota that does not exist and risk criminal charges and dismissal from the force?

We had a Beyonder given a ticket for distracted driving, when he wasn't even using his cell. (by his account)

[codetrap]

Originally posted by LUDELVR
I was having a discussion the other day about traffic tickets and then remembered how many people on and off this board say that they are "innocent" and it was a bogus charge and I wonder if in fact a number of these people are in fact innocent and if the ticket was quota driven. If it was quota driven, how do people fight it and what would an argument be?

For the most part, we've seen that people are genuinely guilty; however, it's not impossible that an officer might give a ticket that is undeserved.
Originally posted by FraserB
So you're saying that a cop would pull someone over with no tint and give them a tint ticket? Or a speeding ticket for a driver who was not speeding? All to meet a quota that does not exist and risk criminal charges and dismissal from the force? First, everyone lies, and nobody is innocent. I guarantee that if you get ticketed for something, it's something that you've done many times before and not gotten caught. Which is why I never bothered fighting a ticket, because I knew that even if I wasn't truly guilty this time, I most certainly had gotten away with it before. My mom used to work under that rule. She'd punish my brother and me when one of us did something wrong, "for the time I didn't catch you at it". I sure there are cases of mistakes, like the above beyonder, but I'm also sure that's just an officer mistake, not an attempt at making shit up to meet targets.

Second, it's an inexhaustible well. If an officer is not close to his target, there are so many legitimate infractions out there that there is no point in faking a ticket. Why bother trying change water into wine when there's a constant drizzle of Bordeaux.

[G]

Originally posted by LUDELVR


I was having a discussion the other day about traffic tickets and then remembered how many people on and off this board say that they are "innocent" and it was a bogus charge and I wonder if in fact a number of these people are in fact innocent and if the ticket was quota driven. If it was quota driven, how do people fight it and what would an argument be?

For the most part, we've seen that people are genuinely guilty; however, it's not impossible that an officer might give a ticket that is undeserved.

There is enough retarded drivers out there to meet "quotas" I know that every ticket I ever got was well deserved.

[gretz]

Originally posted by codetrap
First, everyone lies, and nobody is innocent. I guarantee that if you get ticketed for something, it's something that you've done many times before and not gotten caught.

Phhh lol... I got an estimated 80 in a 60 zone and was told it looked like I may have been going over the posted limit > Oh, this was on an on-ramp lol... Yep, I'm a guilty liar lol

[revelations]

Originally posted by FraserB
I think they said the traffic unit has to have x amount of "interactions", but a regular patrol officer does not.

Even if they do have quotas, it makes no difference. Just means that more people who are already breaking the law are going to be pulled over.

:werd:

This is what I was told by a former traffic member. The Traffic guys had/have a quota of 20 tickets /day. Not sure if thats changed in the past 5 years with more photo radar units doing the bulk of routine infractions though.

When I was with the RCMP in BC, we did NOT have a quota but were expected to make 1 vehicle stop per shift - could be a verbal or written warning too - not necessarily a ticket.

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by FraserB


So you're saying that a cop would pull someone over with no tint and give them a tint ticket? Or a speeding ticket for a driver who was not speeding? All to meet a quota that does not exist and risk criminal charges and dismissal from the force?

I didn't say any of that nor did I say there WAS a quota (I was asking in my original post if there was in fact a quota) but what I did say was "undeserved".
Those that you just mentioned are obviously deserved. I'm talking about the ones that are not.

Officers are people as well who are subject to making mistakes and if a cop pulls over a person because he "thought" he saw someone on the phone when in fact he wasn't and the cop still gives out the ticket, who is wrong here? Cops are not infallible and do make mistakes yet their badge cannot have most of them admitting this so they stick to their guns even though they might be wrong.

If a quota does exist (which someone on the RCMP has confirmed exists but I'm not sure of its validity for lack of publicity) then that could just be further reasoning to give out the ticket.

[codetrap]

Gretz, I'm not saying that you're lying about it this time. You could very well be telling the truth. But I'm pretty sure you didn't mention all the other times where you did break the rules to the cops. Everyone lies, even of its by omission. It's perfectly normal for humans.

[Masked Bandit]

Originally posted by G


There is enough retarded drivers out there to meet "quotas" I know that every ticket I ever got was well deserved.

+1

[Perfect Dark]

Originally posted by G


There is enough retarded drivers out there to meet "quotas" I know that every ticket I ever got was well deserved.

A close friend of mine who has been on the force a long time told me this exact same thing. He doesn't need to target cars with minor infractions because there are plenty of people who actually deserve tickets around Calgary.

[Stealth22]

Originally posted by Perfect Dark


A close friend of mine who has been on the force a long time told me this exact same thing. He doesn't need to target cars with minor infractions because there are plenty of people who actually deserve tickets around Calgary.
I work with a guy who used to be with the CPS, and I've met a couple of cops during my lifetime. All of the above would laugh quite a bit about the stupidity of drivers in this city.