“We don’t have quotas” is the answer to the question, “Sarge, how many tickets do I have to write each month?”

Funny thing though, we DO have ‘ Performance Standards.’ There IS a ‘wall of shame’ on the wall of the patrol division, run by Capt. R. Richards, that lists the NUMBER of TICKETS each deputies writes. Now don’t be misled, the list is there to show who ISN’T writing tickets, not to honor those that are. The wall of shame is broken down into categories such as speeding and OAR (Operating After Revocation). A few deputies top this list with less than 50 tickets written in three weeks. That could be because they are responding to abandoned vehicles, accidents, disabled vehicles, animals in traffic or doing something OTHER than running laser and citing tax paying citizens for speeding. More on that in a minute. These few ‘malcontents’ and ‘rebels’ are doing their jobs protecting and responding to your calls on our freeway system. They are NOT sitting in a hiding spot waiting to nab you for speeding. Which brings me to those few deputies that are writing close to 100 tickets in less than 3 weeks time. You have to ask yourself, what else are they doing? What are your tax dollars paying for?

Of those 100 tickets by one deputy, they can be broken down into one category, Speeding. Now, I know a little about how things work in the real world. In Milwaukee, for every 5 speeding tickets you write you are bound to write at least one OAR (operating after revocation) or arrest at least one person for a warrant with one of the many municipalities within the county. Yet, to my surprise, this deputy didn’t write one OAR or arrest anyone on warrants. How can that be deputy insider? Well, that mean this deputy is focused on writing tickets and not arresting anyone. So you’re probably asking yourself, isn’t that wrong deputy insider? Why yes. Yes it is.

By not checking driver license records during traffic stops this deputy is actually violating a patrol policy. Do the supervisors know? Why yes, they would have to know, they are in fact supervisors right? Deputies have discretion, that means they can choose to NOT write a ticket just as much as they can choose to write it. This deputy has chosen to write every speeding ticket he can. What does that mean to you, if he stops you, you ARE getting a ticket.

Back to the quota matter, Capt. R Richards preaches performance standards. That translates into how many tickets a deputy can write. Here’s the skinny on that. Deputies that are not writing a 100 tickets in 3 weeks are being called in to the supervisors office and asked if “there are any problems.” When asked what that meant, the supervisors refer to the deputies ticket writing. In return the deputies are asking the supervisors if there is a quota. “Of course not, we don’t have quotas” is the uneasy response from the supervisors. Four deputies were transferred from patrol to detention for ‘performance’ issues. There was a common thread with each and every one of them. None of them met the “performance standard” of writing 100 plus tickets in three weeks.

So, dear tax payer, although Capt. R Richards will tell you there is no such thing as a quota for patrol deputies, there are Performance Standards. Figure this: 100 tickets in three weeks by 6 deputies a shift by 3 shifts equals a lot of tickets. This also takes away the chance that if stopped, you might not get a ticket. Four deputies were punished because they chose NOT to write you a ticket.

Naughty, naughty deputies.