Auburn, NY -- Three days before Christmas, Auburn Police Chief Gary Giannotta laid down the law for his command staff. At the closed meeting Dec. 22 in the department basement, Giannotta gave this ultimatum: Tell your patrol officers to write more vehicle and traffic tickets — at least one each per shift — or there will be repercussions for those who don’t.

Giannotta told the dozen or so captains, lieutenants and sergeants at the meeting that City Manager Mark Palesh had told him he expects the department to start making $10,000 a month from vehicle and traffic fines, according to officers who were there. The department averaged about $7,500 monthly last year.

Threatening to punish employees who fail to make a ticket quota violates state labor law. Tuesday, the Auburn police union took Giannotta to task for his proclamation, and two college criminal justice experts questioned the ethics of his directive.

Auburn Police Local 195 will file a labor grievance if Giannotta tries to discipline any officer for failing to meet what it says is the chief’s quota of writing at least one ticket per work shift, said its president, Tim Cottrell, and vice president, Angelo Spinelli.

“It’s illegal, and I believe it’s unprofessional, and it’s improper to use traffic tickets to raise revenues for the city,” Cottrell said.

Three command officers, who asked to not be identified for fear of retribution, told The Post-Standard that Giannotta threatened at the meeting in December to have any officer or supervisor who didn’t comply with his order “written up” in their personnel file. Giannotta became extremely upset at the meeting with a commanding officer who questioned the chief’s order, they said.

Giannotta said he never used the word “quota” at that meeting and was only following orders from Palesh to “encourage” his officers to write one vehicle and traffic ticket a day or be punished. “More than one ticket a day is a quota. One a day is doing their job,” Giannotta said.

However, section 215 (a) of the New York labor law prohibits an employer from punishing an employee for failing to meet ticket quotas.

Two professors at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in New York City, said demanding that police officers write more tickets to generate money for city coffers raises ethical and practical questions.

“It’s a very bad practice, and it’s very unethical. Once citizens are aware of this, they’ll be outraged, or at least they ought to be,” professor Dennis Kenney said.

Professor Joseph Pollini, a retired New York City police commander, empathized with Giannotta’s predicament, but added, “It’s not the duty of police to generate revenue. It’s to maintain peace and order.”

In Syracuse, First Deputy Police Chief David Barrette said his department has never had a ticket quota in his 36 years there as a police officer and administrator. “I’ve never heard any whiff that we have to write a ticket to raise money ... and no one’s been disciplined for not writing tickets,” Barrette said.

Giannotta initially said he didn’t see anything wrong with threatening his officers with discipline if they fail to write one ticket per shift. “It’s not a threat, it’s a promise. It’s a way to manage people ... but no one’s been disciplined yet,” he said.

Later in the interview, Giannotta — in his 14th year as chief — said he doesn’t think the police department should be a revenue source for the city and he is acting under orders from Palesh to boost his department’s ticket revenues. “I don’t agree with it, but I have to implement it. I don’t have any choice,” Giannotta said.

Palesh Tuesday acknowledged telling Giannotta to get his department to write more tickets. Palesh said he reached that conclusion after he reviewed police department records and saw that several officers had not written a ticket in months. “I think they should write more than (one ticket). There’s a fine line between having a quota and doing their jobs,” the city manager said.

Palesh said he did not suggest any quota numbers to Giannotta and did not recall saying that he wanted the police department to generate $10,000 per month in ticket fines.

Regardless, union President Cottrell said police primarily write tickets to modify behavior, not to raise money for the city. “You get a speeding ticket, you’re going to slow down. But (tickets) shouldn’t be used to generate revenue ... for city coffers,” he said.

You can reach Scott Rapp at srapp@syracuse.com or 289-4839.