From todays Washington Post :

Falls Church Police Must Meet Quota For Tickets

By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 8, 2004; Page C01

It's not unusual for patrol officers in the city of Falls Church to hand a motorist two, three or even four tickets during one traffic stop. Drivers sometimes ask Officer Scott Rhodes whether he's trying to fill some sort of quota.

"I answer the citizens honestly," said Rhodes, who is president of the Falls Church Coalition of Police union. "Did I write them because of a quota? Yes, sir, I did."


Falls Church police require patrol officers to write an average of three tickets, or make three arrests, every 12-hour shift, and to accumulate a minimum total of 400 tickets and arrests per year. In terms of quotas, writing a ticket for a broken taillight carries the same weight as an arrest for armed robbery.

Watch your a$$.
Full article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2004Aug7.html if link does not work you can login for free.

 

thanks for the heads up, no wonder i see so many police cars on the streets lately pulling people over.

 

Nothing new for NOVA, unfortunately...

 

yeah, I hate NOVA, can't wait to move back to good 'ol MD

 

I don't recall the vote that changed the police role from 'protecting the people' to 'collecting money from the people' to offset small government over budget...

Makes no sense to actually protect since it doesn't make money to investigate and stop homicides, theft.

g

 

That is simply sickening! It proves just how corrupt and dirty the police force really is; from the top down to the beat cop. They should all be ashamed of themselves.

 

(self edited)

 

its a buisness like anything else i guess

-shahul

 

I've noticed on the 66 or the 495, there are cops driving in Dodge Stratus or other average cars pulling people over. Since when did they start being covert? It wasn't like that three years ago. Am I the only one who saw this in VA?

 

Playing devil's advocate here, there is another way to look at this. Laws exist for a variety of reasons. Police officers may not take the time and effort to write tickets for small offenses due to the paper work, potential need to appear in court, etc. If in a small town, the vast majority of police work (for the patrol officer) centers around traffic and domestic disturbances some motivation is required. The bottom line is that busted tail lights, headlights that don't work, bald tires, etc can cause or contribute to the cause of an accident.

Hell, I got pulled in my small town because the officer thought my inspection sticker was out of date. It wasn't and he was very apologetic about it. I told him "No sweat, its nice to see that you guys are out there enforcing the little things" (this was in a beat up mighty max, not my evo).

If you can't follow the little things, how can you be expected to follow any rules. The bottom line is, if you can't take the heat don't go into the kitchen.

Again, just playing devil's advocate. there are at least two sides to every story.
BTW, I have a brother-in-law that is a patrol officer in Austin Texas, I understand quite well what these folks put up with. Don't give them grief because they are doing there jobs. The city sets the rules not the patrol cops. Doing your job does not necessarily (and in this case) make you corrupt.

-- dave

 

A lot of criminals get taken off the streets as a result of "routine" traffic stops...Timothy McVeigh was caught because of a lowly plate violation...

 

Yes I have seen a mini van (dodge) pulling someone over in VA. but guess what I have seen a camry cop here in OC, CA can you believe that. I was shocked a camry cop. Well I am moving back to NVA and i guess here I come little cops. atleast they dont really check whats under your hood there as they do here in CA.

 

no, you're not the only one... They have all kinds of cars. Even unmarked Ford Explorers and crap. Especially on 666... oops, I mean 66. Traffic tickets are a HUGE source of revenue in this area. Since they added red-light cameras, they've been making million$... I read an article about it in the Post last week

 

right, if you see dark tinted windows, and little antena in the back of the car, it might be a cop, here in illinois people use ford explolers, dodge stratus, pontiac firebird, camaro, mustangs.. you name it... just be carefull.

 

a camry haaaaaaa. if i get pulled over i will tell the cop this is unfair. haaaaaaaa