For the first time, the public has confirmation that at least one Hamilton police squad has been given specific numerical enforcement targets for tickets and other forms of proactive policing.

An email obtained by The Spectator shows that members of a Mountain patrol squad were given targets to build into their monthly and annual goals — targets for activities such as writing tickets, visiting people on bail, and running RIDE lanes.

Over the years, many officers have spoken — off the record — about ticket "quotas," insisting they were real, were universal for patrol officers, but always verbal.

The leaked email suggests they are now written, at least for some officers.

Across the service, supervisors annually ask officers to submit personal goals, targets that are in line with their squad's overall goals.

A Mountain patrol squad was told this year's personal goals should include such things as:

• Writing 15 tickets per month, or 150 per year per officer

• Conducting 20 "STOP" target checks of people released on bail

• Developing one beat project for the year.

Overall, the squad has a goal to write about 5,000 tickets this year, the document states.

How does that fit into the larger picture?

Hamilton Police Service would not make anyone available for interviews on the subject.

REQUEST FOR INTERVIEW REFUSED: HPS Acting Chief Girt responds by email

Hamilton police media relations officer Const. Steve Welton said squad and patrol numbers are not publicly released, but officers have told The Spectator each Mountain squad is comprised of 16-18 officers; patrol strength is slightly higher in Divisions 1 and 2.

So, if that single squad's targets are applied evenly across the division's four squads in patrol, that would translate to about 20,000 tickets issued per year — a conservative target given the service's recent 65,000 plus tickets per year performance.

Although numbers for 2014 are not yet publicly available, published statistics for the two previous years show the service as a whole issued 67,463 tickets in 2013 and slightly more, 69,261, in 2012. The year-end traffic statistics report noted that although there was a slight drop in 2013, the two years had the two highest single-year totals for the Hamilton service.

Chief Glenn De Caire has consistently cited reducing traffic collisions, injuries and deaths as a high priority for the service. Since becoming chief, the number of tickets issued by his patrol officers has risen from 55,500 in 2009 to 67,463 in 2013; collisions went from 10,095 down to 8,619 over the same years.

While the drop in collisions is good news, the issue, say some officers, is a feeling that promotion and career choices are tied too closely to these targets, measurables which focus on one aspect of policing. Some expressed concern officers will substitute their ticket target for their discretion and issue more tickets out of fear for their careers.

Police declined requests to interview De Caire or another senior manager, providing instead a written statement from Deputy Chief Eric Girt. The statement did not specifically address these fears.

It said "patrol squad objectives … could include quantitative and qualitative performance indicators involving enforcement."

Clint Twolan served as a road sergeant before his recent election as president of the Hamilton Police Association and understands the usefulness of measureable goals and objectives.

While it's not unusual to see the service's broader goals in writing, managers offering patrol officers a detailed personal breakdown (in writing) is something else.

"It's a little unusual to see the specific areas," said Twolan.

That ticket issue was highlighted this fall when The Spectator reported that four members of the high-profile ACTION team have been placed on administrative duties amid an investigation into accusations they falsified tickets, writing large numbers of tickets for offences which never happened.

The association is concerned, Twolan said, that "the push (to issue tickets) is too hard."

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Mike Thomas, the former president of the association, told The Spectator last month that many officers are concerned their careers will suffer if they don't meet the perceived "quota."

"Officers right across the service are under an immense amount of pressure to issue tickets," Thomas said.

"Their performance is rated on the number of tickets they issue. But an officer's performance has to be rated on a number of themes and not solely on the tickets given out," Thomas said.

Hamilton's promotion policy includes looking at a candidate's performance achieving public safety and business plan goals, Girt said in his statement, noting that "This process was developed in partnership with the service and the Hamilton Police Association."

Twolan said officers are facing overwhelming workload and stress.

"We need more officers," he added, repeating a key message from his election campaign.

But he parts company with Thomas on the issue of promotion. Twolan says he knows officers who were promoted because of one set of clear strengths, even if they didn't do too well on other specific targets.

Traffic tickets are "a measuring stick" used to gauge an officer's effectiveness, but it's not the only one, he said.

"Some people are traffic people, some aren't."

Peel Regional Police Deputy Chief Brian Adams, a 33-year veteran, says the tools police use to assess their officers have changed greatly in that time — but so too have the officers.

"We are very highly paid, well-educated people working in policing — a lot of that accountability, they put on themselves."

Modern patrol officers, says Adams, are increasingly "taking ownership of their beats," and they want to contribute to community safety.

"I can't speak for the rest of the province, but in Peel we don't have quotas … that isn't what we're striving to do."

A big change in performance evaluation at modern police services is input.

"The big difference is the officer has input — they can tell us what they see and think their beat needs — that seems to be something officers enjoy too."