Richardson Police Officer Accuses Department Of Illegal Quotas To Write Tickets
RICHARDSON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - For 13 years, Officer Kayla Walker has called the Richardson Police Department her work home.
And for that entire time, she says she's been compelled to write tickets.
"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 told Richardson City Council last month.
Walker said it's done under the guise of monthly productivity reports to compare officers to one another.
She said the threats include schedule changes, which could potentially limit her parenting time.
"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," she said.
Kevin Lawrence, the Executive Director of the Texas Municipal Police Association, said ticket quotas are illegal for good reason.
"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.
But he said he'll be surprised if this case reaches the level of illegal quota.
"Measuring productivity is okay. It becomes a violation when they're attempted to increase revenues by writing a bunch of tickets," he said.
Richardson's City Manager said the matter is under thorough review, saying, "This review will involve outside legal counsel and will be conducted in an orderly and expeditious way. At the conclusion, I will make a public understanding of that outcome."
A city spokesperson said there's no time frame as to how long the investigation will take. The city manager is asking for patience and understanding throughout that process.
