RICHARDSON, Texas — An independent investigation found no evidence of a ticket-writing quota in Richardson, as alleged by a police officer earlier this year, city officials announced Friday.
The investigators found that while Richardson police use "statistics to determine patrol officer productivity," no evidence showed that the department requires a quota, or predetermined number of stops or tickets, according to the report, which was prepared by Fort Worth lawyers Wayne K. Olson and Cara Leahy White.
Read the full report here.
The investigation found "no evidence that the City in any way directed its patrol officers to issue a predetermined or specified number of traffic citations, which would be in violation of state law.
"Nevertheless, it is undisputed that the number of stops, citations, and arrests are closely reviewed as a means of productivity," the report said.
The investigation found that patrol officers said they had been told by senior officers and training officers that if they wrote 30-40 tickets per month, "they would not get spoken to about the number of citations they write."
Still, the patrol officers said no one in the department has directed the officers to write a specified number of tickets per month, and that "there has never been pressure to write tickets that weren't legitimately merited, nor would they ever do so."
City manager Dan Johnson called for a review of the police department's traffic division after some Richardson officers earlier this year alleged they were being forced to write tickets or face punishment.
The officers said they were being forced into a competition to see who writes the most tickets.
”It’s almost a little bit more dangerous than having a quota because you are constantly competing to be better than everyone else,” said David Conklin, a veteran Richardson officer.
Conklin and several other Richardson officers who spoke with WFAA said they were being threatened with disciplinary action or low evaluations if they didn't comply.
Kayla Walker, another veteran officer, said she was threatened to get punished if she "didn't get my numbers up."
As a result of the investigation, police Chief Gary Tittle announced several policy changes to "create bright-line guidance clearing up any misimpressions" about the department's expectations for officers.
The changes will include command staff reinforcing the department's position that no ticket quotas are required for patrol officer and that all productivity reports will be standardized for supervisors "to use when evaluating patrol officer performance."
