A Texas cop has claimed she was pressured to meet quotas, including writing tickets, or face being disciplined by her bosses.
Officer Kayla Walker hit out at her employers at the Richardson Police Department last month, and accused them of illegally forcing quotas on its employees.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Walker told Richardson City Council: "The Richardson Police Department has been illegally using quotas to evaluate and discipline patrol officers for not writing enough tickets, arresting enough people, or making enough citizen arrests."
She claimed that the police department had been using quotas for decades and that she was speaking on behalf of her fellow officers.
Walker claimed the reason given for the quotas was to compare officers' productivity with one another.
According to the outlet, she added that failing to meet the quotas could result in schedule changes that, in turn, would impact time with her family.
Walker continued: "I'm literally faced with a choice of violating state law or limiting my time with my child. No parent should ever have to make that choice."
Ticket quotas are prohibited under Texas state law where it is illegal for police to use them in order to evaluate, promote, compensate or discipline.
Kevin Lawrence, the executive director of the Texas Municipal Police Association, said there was a good reason why ticket quotas were illegal.
"You wind up with less confidence in your local law enforcement agency, you deteriorate the relationship between your citizens and your police department," he said, according to CBS21.
However, Lawrence commented that he thought it would be surprising if the accusations reached the threshold for what is defined as being an illegal quota.
He continued: "Measuring productivity is okay. It becomes a violation when they're attempted to increase revenues by writing a bunch of tickets."
According to the Dallas Morning News, City Manager Dan Johnson said at a follow-up council meeting: "I want to assure you [Mayor Paul Voelker], the city council, the public, officer Walker, and the Richardson Police Department that the concerns raised regarding traffic enforcement practices and alleged violations of the state transportation code are serious matters."
"It compelled my office, in coordination with the city attorney and police chief, to initiate a thorough review. This review will involve outside legal counsel, and it will be conducted in an orderly and expeditious way."
Newsweek has contacted the Richardson Police Department and the city council for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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