Cops and tickets

[blahblah]

My father was a cop and many of my friends are so I know that cops have to give out x amount of tickets a month. Here in NY it is 10. This is actually illegal, but the way it works out is that if you don't go with the program then you don't get promoted, etc. Here in NY cop chiefs are not elected (not sure about NH) so we can't influence who is in charge. So my question is does anyone have any ideas about how to change the orders from higher up so that cops don't feel "forced" to give out tickets?

[David]

Either outlaw cops from giving tickets, which isn't going to happen ($$$).  OR, find a way to expose it.  Sunshine is the greatest disinfectant.  Most people already believe they have quotas, so even sunshine may not work.  That is why my focus of civil disobedience is focused on the enforcement part of gov't.  I am trying to get cops to not want to ticket me. 

[blahblah]

Do you think this is a sound strategy? Is a cop really going to jeopardize a promotion (more money, better work areas and work hours) for a total stranger? Even if you suceeded on a personal level, that cop is probably just elsewhere ticketing another less resistant target. It seems ot me we are targeting the symptons rather than the root of the problem and that is why we never make any progress

[David]

they don't need to jeopardize anything.  Before any interaction with a 'suspect' of some statute violation, every cop has a choice to approach or ignore.  I would love to convince every cop that if it seems that no one is being hurt or violated, than just ignore the violation. 
The enforcement is the most important aspect of gov't.  without enforcement it wouldn't really matter what the blowhards in d.c. or concord say, it is the police that enforce it.  If it is possible to persuade (via passionate logic and civil disobedience) cops to just look the other way, then we have won 80% of the battle. 

[John Edward Mercier]

Generally their quotas are number of 'stops'... not so much tickets.

[Romak]

This issue has come up in my discussion with our local chief who I know personally. He has told me they most definitely are not allowed to go on fishing expeditions to meet a quota, but are asked to perform a certain number of stops every month to let the people in town know they are out there. In small towns giving out warnings has a much greater impact then ticketing people.

[kola]

do not give them a reason to stop you.

kola

[KBCraig]

Generally their quotas are number of 'stops'... not so much tickets.

Yes, having a quota for "contacts" isn't illegal. It's just highly convenient that most "contacts" provide the opportunity to write tickets.

I know a couple of good cops, who write a lot of warnings and few tickets; the warnings count towards their "contacts" quota. But, they're older guys, and they admit that if they were rookies they'd never get away with it without being rated "unacceptable".

[blahblah]

You are suggesting KB that the correct strategy then is to try to fight tickets when an older cop is involved vs a younger because the older cop will have more leeway?

[kola]

Lauren "Andretti" wouldn't of had to serve all that jailtime if she would have drove slower.

Man. I can't believe she was doing 105 mph...now thats is cruising! 

..andf Jim was in the passeneger seat rollin doobies????...CRIKEYS!

Free Kola

ps. I hope this post wasn't political.

[KBCraig]

You are suggesting KB that the correct strategy then is to try to fight tickets when an older cop is involved vs a younger because the older cop will have more leeway?

Not at all. "Fighting tickets" is done after the ticket is written. I'm just saying that the cops I know who are likely to give more leeway, tend to be older, and agree that a younger cop wouldn't make it through training if he tried to write warnings instead of tickets.