HPD ticket quota pilot program begins

11:20 AM CST on Wednesday, February 23, 2005

By Jeff McShan / 11 News

Click to watch video

If you don't drive the speed limit, your risk of getting a ticket in Houston just went up.

HPD says that, in an effort to make our city streets safer, officers who don't like writing tickets will soon be forced to do so.

KHOU-TV

Even though it's not officially being called a quota, HPD officers must write tickets or face consquences for non-compliance.

It's all part of a new productivity plan that the chief hopes will make HPD more efficient.

"There will be some consequences if officers are not as productive as they need to be, or should be," says Lt. Robert Manzo.

11 News obtained a memo Tuesday that read, "The minimum average of tickets written by an officer must be one per day to be acceptable."

According to the memo, officers found to be non-compliant could face being assigned to Ben Taub Hospital to guard a prisoner, assigned to Tele-Serve, meaning taking reports by telephone, lose their ability to work extra jobs or even be terminated.

One officer who wished to remain anonymous, says it's all about money. "If I put a guy in jail for aggravated robbery, the city makes no money for that. If I write a ticket for a seatbelt or inspection sticker, the city makes money off of that," the officer says.

Many feel that forcing officers to write tickets is illegal, and is a quota.

The state's transportation code reads, "A political subdivision or an agency of the state may not require or suggest to a peace officer that the peace officer is required or expected to issue a predetermined or specified number of any type or combination of types of traffic citations within a specified period."

Apparently, the intent of the law back in the 1990s was to rid our highways of speed traps.

Regardless, HPD has changed its wording. "So the idea is not to tell officers how many tickets, even if it's only one they must write, but the message is that zero is unacceptable," says Lt. Manzo.

Hans Marticiuc, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, currently backs the program, although he wants to see the final paperwork on the proposal. It appears that it is going to be a pilot program in the southeast and northeast parts of Houston. They will try the program for a month to work out any problems, then most likely will implement it throughout the city.