Video has emerged showing a Newaygo County Sheriff deputy admitting his department breaks federal and state laws. Each Newaygo County Board of Commissioners meeting is recorded as a matter of record. The videos of the commissioners’ meetings are public domain. In the video, recorded in January, the Newaygo deputy knowingly admits to breaking federal and state laws that prohibit quota policies in police departments. Not only does he admit to breaking the law, but after he does so, the entire board of commissioners votes to enact his measure of breaking the law. According to the Michigan Vehicle Code, it is against the law to enact a quota system. Michigan Vehicle Code, MCL 257.750 lays out the legality of ticket quotas quite clearly: (1) A police officer shall not be required to issue a predetermined or specified number of citations for violations of this act or of local ordinances substantially corresponding to provisions of this act, including parking or standing violations. A police officer’s performance evaluation system shall not require a predetermined or specified number of citations to be issued. The deputy starts out his proposed measure by stating that he knows he breaks the law, but he doesn’t care. “I’m a numbers guy so I know you’re not allowed to do it by federal law and by state law. But I do put stipulations on the numbers I want to see by the end of their shift,” says the deputy. In short, if the officers don’t collect a certain amount of revenue for the state, they are then punished by not being able to work overtime, a de facto violation of the above code.

