Parking Ticket Quotas: Duh!
Utterly apropos of nothing—I don’t even know what made me think of it—I want to write today about the always-rumored-but-never-really-confirmed notion that NYPD parking agents have a “quota” of tickets they have to hand out. Let me say first of all that I have no particular insight on this. I haven’t been doing any investigative reporting, haven’t videotaped any former parking enforcement officers in silhouette, telling the ugly, dark truth about the secret quota system. I don’t need to do all that to find the truth of this. Common sense leads one to the only possible conclusion:
Of course there are quotas. It’s madness to think otherwise. Furthermore, there NEED to be quotas. It ultimately serves citizens—and drivers/parkers—more than it hurts them.
Let me explain. Almost every job comes with quotas. If you are working for someone, it is expected that you will perform up to a certain quantitative standard, if you’d like to remain employed in that position. I don’t walk out of our studio here at PIX after doing my ninth newscast of the week, and bemoan the “quota” of shows the station is requiring me to meet. It’s just the job; we have two evening newscasts a day, 14 every week, and everyone working here has work them. If I don’t meet my “quota” I’m gone. And if I didn’t have that quota of programs, maybe I’d sit a few out every now and then. You know, when I’m feeling a little tired, or something.
It’s the same with parking enforcement officers. If they weren’t required to administer a minimum number of citations, a lot of them wouldn’t do it. If it were me, and it was pouring rain outside, and none of my supervisors were requiring me to slap some tickets on cars parked at expired meters, I might just decide to stay dry.
How could that be good for you? Well, if you’re cruising around and around the block on that rainy day, looking for a place to park so you can pick up your kids from day care, I’m guessing you’d appreciate it if there was some kind of authority making sure people, fearing expensive tickets, were vacating their parking spots when their meter time was up.
I realize—and we’ve been reporting on this recently—there’s always the potential for abuse. An officer scrambling to reach his or her quota might cut some corners to get their number. That’s definitely a problem. But I’m going to guess the vast majority of parking citations handed out were legitimately earned, you could say. Having quotas just makes sure the job is being done properly, bringing in revenue for the city, and keeping turnover in parking spaces.
So next time you see a parking enforcement agents prowling your neighborhood looking to both catch parking miscreants AND reach their quota, give ‘em a big old smile and say “thank you for doing your job!” It’ll be worth it just to see the look on their face.
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Comments: 11
Yeah Jim but as a newsman you probably remember that story out of some town in New Jersey a few years back where a clown was going around putting quarters in parking meters and so the authorities said the clown had no right to do this yada yada yada, PROOF POSITIVE that they want their quotas. ALSO I've been in towns where I would swear on my dead cat's grave that they actually speed up those meters just a tad. There's one for Mary Murphy.
I worked for traffic (DOT) from 1983 to 1993.In my office DO 107 they wanted a book(75 summonses) a day.They would'nt call it a quota but you better not come in without 75.When I was promoted to the tow pound,at one time a chief told us to bring in 5 tows and we could go home so you know all of us were out in full force.If directing traffic you did'nt have to write tickets but sometimes you would because they'd be moving violations and you would get a easy day for going to court.
Motorists should be especially wary of ticket quotas when driving outside their state. And that applies to both parking and moving "violations". Revenue is thereby generated without antagonizing local residents. Last July, I was pulled over by the Bergen County Police on rte. 17 in Ridgewood, New Jersey for a lane change that was so ambiguous that the officer could not (or would not) even explain what I was doing wrong! And he had driven behind me for 2-3 minutes before flashing his dome lights. I suspect his purpose there was to go into his computer and check my record for any past behavior that might make me a risk to his own safety - especially at 5 p.m., the end of his shift. But I believe my NY plate caught his attention first. (After I checked out as "clean" as any boy scout, he so bravely pulled me over.)
MY APPEAL TO ALL READERS: DON'T MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM. READ PARKING SIGNS, WATCH THE METERS, AND DRIVE 5 MPH BELOW THE SPEED LIMIT - ESPECIALLY WHEN IN ANOTHER STATE!! Then, if no motorist did anything wrong, they'll just have to raise money by raising taxes on their own residents. But first they'd probably adjust their radar to read 10 mph faster!! (And there's another one for Mary or Howard to look into.)
P.S.- Let me say that all the tickets were legit.You don't have to write bogus tickets because illegal parking is everywhere.You can walk right out of the door and someone will be double parked or on a hydrant.
There is a huge element you missed. Businesses would focus on quota, deadline, and quantity. You know, the more you do, the more money you make.
But parking ticket is different. It is not a business, it is law enforcement. So it should be given when it is suitable, but should be hands off when it is not. And the supervisor shouldn't require cops to give out ticket for the sake of fulfilling quota so that they can go home. Let alone the city shouldn't use this as an alternative way to make big money (it is really not a secret).
Of course, there are illegal parking here and there. But it is often those real illegal parkings don't get caught, but the ones that doesn't deserve a ticket got one - just because they are in bad luck of a cop who needs to fulfill the quota.
Yes, we shouldn't do illegal things. But, in the real world, it is more like "do illegal thing as long as you don't get caught"...
There are definitely quotas. Trust me. Jim: What's with the moving background and everyone walking around? Unsettling. My husband and I were getting dizzy! How's Charlotte?
Let me explain. Almost every job comes with quotas. If you are working for someone, it is expected that you will perform up to a certain quantitative standard, if you’d like to remain employed in that position. I don’t walk out of our studio here at PIX after doing my ninth newscast of the week, and bemoan the “quota” of shows the station is requiring me to meet. It’s just the job; we have two evening newscasts a day, 14 every week, and everyone working here has work them. If I don’t meet my “quota” I’m gone.
Hmmm... what about RATINGS Mr Watkins? They don't matter?
My point exactly. Another quota.
With all do respect, what determines if you meet your quota, or not...
Getting back to the parking thing what if everyone decided to obey the law to the letter (not likely but it's a scenario), how would these parking agents meet their quotas and if they failed to meet them because everybody would be doing the right thing would their jobs be on the line? In that case would they be stretching things like the red expired flag just popped up but the person is getting in his car do you still give him a ticket? Same thing with the very few traffic tickets I've gotten in my life, in some cases I felt the "offense" was stretchable at the end of the month.
That's why it is different between businesses and law enforcement.
Similar to giving parking tickets, cops arrest people because they broke the law, not because the cops have to fulfill an "arrest quota" because they didn't "arrest enough".