The Atlanta Police Department's salary raise is reported to be tied to traffic tickets written by police officers. This raises some ethical questions, like encouraging police to write more tickets to meet quotas.
The Atlanta Police Department is getting a salary raise, and the money is coming directly from traffic tickets written by police officers.
This raises some ethical questions, like encouraging police to write more tickets to meet quotas.
Although incentives for writing a ticket are debatable, many cases get dismissed because the officer that wrote the ticket is not able to make an appearance in court.
Police union president Ken Allen wrote: “The mayor has designated traffic court, ticket revenue for future pay increases ... This is the first time ever that a revenue stream has been designated to salaries. Future pay increases are in our hands. We need only enforce traffic violations as we are now, but increase our attendance in court to prevent cases being dismissed.”
A representative from the Atlanta Police Department says that there is no directive that tells officers to write more tickets, or that writing traffic tickets is directly related to their payment.
Police say that following up with the writing of a ticket will make the court process better and more efficient.