Local News in Brief : Ticketing Case Dropped
Saying that he saw no evidence that traffic officers in downtown and East Los Angeles faced punishment for failing to meet allegedly illegal ticket-writing quotas, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge Monday turned down a police union request to have the department barred from setting “productivity goals” for the officers.
Despite claims by the Los Angeles Police Protective League that officers in the Central Traffic Division faced demotion, transfer or other disciplinary action if they failed to produce at least 10 citations each shift, Judge Ricardo A. Torres said he saw the officers’ discontent as a disagreement over “who has the authority to set priorities.”
In turning down the union’s request for a temporary restraining order, the judge noted that productivity goals are different from arrest quotas, which are illegal under state law.
Police Department officials deny setting quotas, but say they have pressured officers to write more tickets to cut back the number of fatal and serious accidents in the city.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
