A former motorcycle officer in California claims that after he voiced his disapproval about a ticketing quota system, he was fired. The plaintiff alleges that his supervisors used retaliation to show their displeasure when he questioned the system. He filed his case against the police department in a Superior Court.
According to the complaint, the officers in the traffic division were required to write out a certain number of tickets during their shifts. This ticketing quota is illegal, and it made the plaintiff uncomfortable. The plaintiff, who was responsible for giving other officers overtime, was purportedly told by his supervisor that if any of the officers did not reach their ticket quota, they were not to be given opportunities for overtime.
The former officer did not want to engage in such activity and complained. After speaking out, he claims he tried for a promotion but was denied, and he felt his not getting the promotion was directly tied to his complaint. In addition, he also testified on behalf of two other traffic officers who had brought a separate lawsuit against members of the same command staff regarding the ticket quota system. Those two officers won their case and received a settlement of $2 million.
After he gave his testimony, the plaintiff in this cases asserts that, in addition to not giving him overtime, the department drummed up a baseless internal affairs complaint against him, placed him on involuntary leave and ultimately fired him. The Los Angeles City Council unanimously agreed to pay $950,000 to resolve the officer’s complaint. Similar allegations of retaliation have surrounded the ticketing quota system since 2013 and have resulted in California taxpayers shelling out over $10 million to have them resolved.
Source: mynewsla.com, “They really do have ticket quotas! LA pays $1M in ex-cop’s lawsuit“, Debbie L. Sklar, Jan. 14, 2016