Is the term “performance standards” just a suger coated way of saying quota?

Question by Joe B: Is the term “performance standards” just a suger coated way of saying quota?
There’s a lot of departments out there that have these policies called “performance standards” which basically say they have to meet a certain standard with regards to their performance. Their performance meaning the number of citations and or warnings they issue per day or per week. It’s common knowledge cops don’t have “quotas” but they do have performance standards. In my opinion this is the same exact thing as a quota and in the long run it puts pressure on the cop to write a certain amount of tickets in a certain amount of time. It’s very easy to find law breakers but I feel any pressure being put on a cop to issue tickets is considered a quota and should be deemed illegal. What if a cop wants to dedicate a week to community policing getting out there talking to the kids. He shouldn’t have to worry about his srg saying yo what are you doing I’m looking at your “performance standards” and your not creating revenue. It appears they use “lazy cops” as a means to justify why performance standards exist. The term lazy cop means a cop that just doesn’t write tickets. No quotes, no performance standards, just let the cops practice the law as their trained too not by quotas or “performance standards”… what a crock
Please excuse the way sugar is spelled in the title… wasn’t paying attention.
“A lot of jobs have performance standards”

Do not compare police work with any other job. This nature of this job is unlike any other and in my opinion can not be compared to any other profession. Quotas are actually illegal… performance standards are not… do not try and use stock brokers job using performance standards then compare it to a police officers… you can’t compare them. Police have to act with ethics and integrity and having to meet a standard everyday could hinder that.
“The management will tell you “performance standards” are not a set number, they just compare you to the average officer’s numbers”

Ok so from that I can gather in certain departments you have a bunch of cops seeing who can write the most tickets for gain further self image or maybe a promotion. I don’t like the concept of cops competing to see who can write the most tickets well because… I’ll let you figure that out. In the long run it’s great for revenue for the town/city but that practice is unethical and unbecoming of what a police officer stands for. BUT we’ll overlook anything that creates more money right?
The problem is as humans we want to advance.

Management it seems using performance standards as a means of promoting.

Who gets picked the cop out there making a difference in the community talking to children and other great acts of community policing or the cop who’s writing non stop tickets generating revenue for the city? Since it appears revenue is the primary factor in these standards.

What gives the cop the best chance for a promotion when performance standards are used as a means to internally promote?

A. Writing a crap load of tickets

B. A more community based policing approach (talking with children and the locals getting to know the community)

We can look at trends and we do see disparities at the end of the month the facts don’t lie.
Great Answer Troop!

Figures all your sources for this standards being in place are all within 20 minutes from me : /

Best answer:

Answer by Crazy Dave
Yes the police departments do have quotas! You say that it is common knowledge that they do not? All you have to do it look around at the #s of police you see on the streets and pulling people over at certain times of the month. Normal payday days, mid month, and most definitely at the end of the month. The police are a tool to make money for their city and state.

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