ForumsWEPRPolice quotas equals bad cops

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Fiends
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Fiends
114 posts
Peasant

I think we need to end police quotas. Two examples of police quotas are a minimum amount of arrests required over a certain period of time. Another example is a minimum number of tickets that they give out for speeding or parking violations. If the officer is unable to meet his/her quota then they get fired.

But what if a police officer can not find the minimum number of people breaking the law to fit there quota. The good cop that cant find the minimum law breakers loses his/her job but the bad cop makes up for this by accusing law abiding citizens of breaking the law even though they know that the citizen was innocent.

It does not take a genius to figure out what results from this. Over time more and more of the police force in the area that has the quota becomes corrupt. You can also easily see that the more corrupt the police force is the more bad cops can get away with various crimes. Crimes like shaking down civilians for money, molesting people, accusing some one they don't like of a crime they didn't do and then arresting them ,and so on.

Now I am not naive there will always be police corruption and bad cops. However quotas greatly increase the number of bad cops in our system and help these bad cops get away with a lot more corruption so let's end these pointless quotas.

What do you guys think?

  • 4 Replies
FishPreferred
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FishPreferred
3,171 posts
Duke

It does not take a genius to figure out what results from this.


Indeed, it doesn't, but you should probably elucidate that before you jump into the slippery slope fallacy.
Kasic
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Kasic
5,557 posts
Jester

I agree that quotas are bad, but I don't think it necessarily leads to more corruption. That's a little further than I think is justified to conclude without compiling some statistics on the matter.

pangtongshu
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pangtongshu
9,815 posts
Jester

Crimes like shaking down civilians for money, molesting people, accusing some one they don't like of a crime they didn't do and then arresting them ,and so on.


I think the results of said quotas would probably be a lot more mundane than these vicious results. From what I have seen, personally, it results in things like tickets being handed more frequently and more frivolously.

Also, I always thought quotas coincide with the budget the force receives, not their job dependency? Any source on being fired for not reaching quota?
Nurvana
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Nurvana
2,524 posts
Farmer

I concur with pang; what do you think pays a police force's bills? Money they receive from writing tickets. That's why quotas are instituted in the first place.

but the bad cop makes up for this by accusing law abiding citizens of breaking the law


I completely disagree. You're painting some Gotham city-esque picture of policemen in general. In actuality, cops who need to reach quotas will just crack down on lesser crimes that someone might usually get off on, such as littering or only going a few miles over the speed limit.

If you don't want a ticket, don't break the law. That's the easiest way to stay out of trouble, quotas or not.
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