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Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Quota: NYPD
We are shocked, shocked to find money grubbing among municipal employees:
No matter how often the Police Department denies the existence of quotas, many New Yorkers will swear that officers are sometimes forced to write a certain number of tickets in a certain amount of time.
Now, in a secret recording made in a police station in Brooklyn, there is persuasive evidence of the existence of quotas.
The hourlong recording, which a lawyer provided this week to The New York Times, was made by a police supervisor during a meeting in April of supervisors from the 81st Precinct.
The recording makes clear that precinct leaders were focused on raising the number of summonses issued — even as the Police Department had already begun an inquiry into whether crime statistics in that precinct were being manipulated.
Policing by the numbers isn't quite as bad as it sounds. It was a revolution when introduced some thirty years ago. Back then the NYPD generally ignored petty crime, which in turn created a local culture that was increasingly crime ridden. The Broken Window theory held that by targeting petty offences, it would create an environment less conducive to crime. It basically worked, and made sense when the police weren't doing their jobs. Today such an approach looks to have more to do with bureaucratic goal setting, and policing for profit, than public safety.
Posted by Richard Anderson on September 15, 2010 | Permalink
Comments
Quotas may be petty, pedantic, sneaky, and underhanded, Publius. But are they unjust? Are innocent people being accused falsely? Isn't that more important than what boils down to a matter of procedure?
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-09-16 6:15:33 PM
I suspect that this happens everywhere are police forces. Of course, when the authorities are the only ones that are armed, they can extort what they like. Now, universal ownership and the right to carry firearms will put the police in their place. I would even go so far as to declare that the widespread presence of firearms will render the police redundant. Now, there's a way to deal with the quota problem.
Posted by: AB Patriot | 2010-09-20 9:30:59 PM
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