CHICAGO – The City of Chicago would be prohibited from requiring police officers to fulfill ticket quotas and assessing officers based on the number of tickets they issue under a plan signed into law today.
Senate Bill 3509, sponsored by State Senator Bill Cunningham, rescinds Chicago’s exemption from a 2014 law banning counties and municipalities from assigning ticket quotas and using the number of tickets an officer issues as a performance evaluation. The law made exemptions for municipalities with their own independent inspectors general and law enforcement review authorities.
“Policing should not be used as a revenue enhancement strategy by municipalities,” said Cunningham, a Democrat representing Chicago and the southwest suburbs. “Officers will no longer be distracted from their regular law enforcement duties in order to meet ticket quotas.”
The Fraternal Order of Police argued that ticket quotas created unnecessary tension between law enforcement and the communities they serve by interfering with officers’ ability to exercise compassion in certain situations.