AUBURN, AL—Officer Justin Hanners is claiming he was fired from the Auburn Police Department in January because he spoke out against the police chief, who allegedly forced his officers to comply with ticket and arrest quotas.
Justin Hanners’ commanding Sgt. Trey Neal was recorded during a staff meeting, by Hanners, as saying, ”Officers will have 100 contacts per month, minimum… 40 of those maybe warnings for traffic, the other 60 will be divided between traffic citations, non-traffic citations, field interviews and custodial arrests…Do not be the one that does not get 100.”
“That’s 72,000 contacts per year in a 50,000 person town,” Justin Hanners said.
Officers not meeting the 100 contacts quota faced mandatory overtime and write ups, while the top two officers to write the most tickets were awarded gift cards for steak dinners and other rewards according to Hanners.
Opponents of such police tactics argue that quotas invited corruption and are bad policing because they encourage a strong incentive for officers to find offenses where they may not exist. It’s a policy that encourages police to create petty crimes which create income for the city from fines and fees and ignore serious crimes which cost the city in proving its case.
While the city is raising property taxes and sales tax, the chain of command over the Auburn Police Department tell its officers to write more “meat” tickets, those that generate high fines like speeding and red light tickets, over less revenue generating tickets. These policies lead Hanners to claim that the Auburn Police Department is more revenue driven than concerned about protecting citizens, fighting crime or enforcing the law.
When Hanners started talking out about his concerns for the policy, he was threatened with losing his job. He later filed a grievance with the department. Hanners was later fired for violating a gag order.
After contacting the Police Benevolent Association, he was informed that his situation is quiet common all across the country and there isn’t much he can do about it.
Source: Full story here.