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A Georgia police department was recently exposed for offering an strange incentive for officers who wrote the most traffic tickets. Douglasville Police Department outside of Atlanta wrote 4,000 fewer tickets in 2019 than the previous year. So during a Jan. 23 night shift meeting Lt. Brandon Nutter suggested food as a prize for the officer who helps boost their tickets, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.

“The numbers came out for traffic stops last year dropped from 14,000 to 10,000,” Nutter said on a video recording of the meeting. “We’re shooting for six. That’s kind of a goal. One thing we thought about is if we average over five a shift … one month … quarter, we can go out and buy some steaks, pull the grill out, and do like a steak dinner for the shift.”

Nutter also suggested officers who got the six-ticket quota “should get a certificate for that.” “Captain Weaver said if we write 75 tickets this rotation he will do something for the shift. He may come up and grill out for us or something. Just a challenge for us,” he wrote. Since the released of the video Police Chief Gary Sparks admitted it “looks wrong” and insisted there’s not a ticket quota. “We don’t condone that,” he added. The pressure to give out more tickets may come from the city of Douglasville budget. Approx. 7 % percent or $1.8 million is expected to come from revenue gained by traffic stops this fiscal year. The pressure to give out more tickets may come from the city of Douglasville budget. Approx. 7 % percent or $1.8 million is expected to come from revenue gained by traffic stops this fiscal year. Joanna Weiss, the co-director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center, said prioritizing other aspects of policing is the right thing to do. Weiss organization advocates cities stop relying on revenue produced by the criminal justice system.

“Just to say you have to write a certain number of tickets, there’s no connection with what the public safety issues are,” Weiss told Fox 5. “The truth is, if officers are responding to more calls for service, they’re being more responsive to the community. So that to me is a very good reason for ticket writing to go down.”

In another video acquired by Fox 5, a lieutenant told his team they could get in trouble if they don’t write enough citations.

“They see a drop in traffic stops and they start getting a little upset about it so … if we’re getting our six a night like we’re trying to shoot for, we shoot for that, we’re going to be doing our part,” he said.

Sparks said the officer was reprimanded for the comment.

“He. Did. It. Wrong. He. Made. A. Mistake. The mistake has been rectified,” the chief told the news station. “And to the citizens of Douglasville, there has never been and never will be … quotas.”

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