Many people believe that Broward County police officers have ticket quotas. Although the State of Florida disallows state agencies from setting traffic ticket quotas, the law doesn’t address municipal and county agencies. Of course, all police agencies tend to deny the implementation of ticket quotas, yet there were almost 300,000 moving traffic citations and over 136,000 non-moving traffic citations issued in Broward County alone in 2012. That’s a lot of traffic tickets so it is conceivable that there is a greater motivation in issuing traffic tickets.

Although there is probably not a “hard” quota in place, police departments are expected to generate a certain number of tickets. Not doing so can effect a police officer’s performance which in turn effects possible promotions. That is one reason why there seems to be more tickets issued at the end of the month. An officer who may otherwise issue just a warning may feel pressured to write a traffic ticket instead. Not only does the general public pay a very costly price for this, but it puts pressure on the cop who may not think your offense was so great. I would go so far as to state that these quotas have even colored the public image of cops. A lot of people no longer see police officers as the good guys. They feel certain that if they get pulled over for speeding, there is no question that they will get a traffic ticket. Instead of the image of Officer Friendly, many people see police officers as thugs and bullies. Unfortunately, this often creates a feeling that is it us-against-them. Most people only have one kind of interaction with law enforcement, getting a traffic ticket. What they don’t know is that most cops are under paid and under educated. It takes more licensing to become a beautician than a cop. You need to do more continuing education to hold a real estate license than to hold a badge.

The fact that cops use quotas is not just supposition on my part; the fact that this system is in place in the town of Sunrise in Broward County was revealed in a Sun-Sentinel article. Of course, this was met with great denial on the part of those using soft quotas, but the article revealed an officer had been reprimanded for not issuing enough traffic citations. Regardless, of the terminology, it’s still a matter of Broward County police agencies using quotas. It helps cops to keep their jobs and their supervisors to meet the expectations of local government.

In spite of these quotas, a good traffic ticket attorney can get your traffic ticket dismissed. Now, we may not be able to get it dismissed just because you believe you got it as the result of a quota, but we have successfully fought hundreds of traffic tickets in court. Everyone commits traffic violations, quite often without realizing they are doing so, but I became a traffic ticket attorney because I like to see justice done. If someone commits a traffic violation such as speeding, and they are in an area where it is highly unlikely that they will hurt anyone, the potential cost to that driver is tremendous. Why should he carry points on his license, have his insurance rates skyrocket, AND pay a fine of about $200? When you consider that traffic citations occur often for one of for two reasons, quotas and financial gain for the issuing police agency, hiring the Traffic Ticket Team is your best bet. Even if we don’t get your traffic ticket dismissed, we have a 99% success rate at getting a reduction in the long-term effects that it can have for you. Visit us online at www.trafficticketteam or give us a call for your free consultation.