Do municipalities have quotas for arrests made? If so, could this be a part of aggressive policing?

[sheshe2]

4. Yes.

FERGUSON LAW ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS ARE FOCUSED
ON GENERATING REVENUE
City officials have consistently set maximizing revenue as the priority for Ferguson’s law
enforcement activity. Ferguson generates a significant and increasing amount of revenue from
the enforcement of code provisions. The City has budgeted for, and achieved, significant
increases in revenue from municipal code enforcement over the last several years, and these
increases are projected to continue. Of the $11.07 million in general fund revenue the City
collected in fiscal year 2010, $1.38 million came from fines and fees collected by the court;
similarly, in fiscal year 2011, the City’s general fund revenue of $11.44 million included $1.41
million from fines and fees. In its budget for fiscal year 2012, however, the City predicted that
revenue from municipal fines and fees would increase over 30% from the previous year’s
amount to $1.92 million; the court exceeded that target, collecting $2.11 million. In its budget
for fiscal year 2013, the City budgeted for fines and fees to yield $2.11 million; the court
exceeded that target as well, collecting $2.46 million. For 2014, the City budgeted for themunicipal court to generate $2.63 million in revenue. The City has not yet made public the
actual revenue collected that year, although budget documents forecasted lower revenue than

snip

City, police, and court officials for years have worked in concert to maximize revenue at
every stage of the enforcement process, beginning with how fines and fine enforcement
processes are established. In a February 2011 report requested by the City Council at a Financial
Planning Session and drafted by Ferguson’s Finance Director with contributions from Chief
Jackson, the Finance Director reported on “efforts to increase efficiencies and maximize
collection” by the municipal court. The report included an extensive comparison of Ferguson’s
fines to those of surrounding municipalities and noted with approval that Ferguson’s fines are “at
or near the top of the list.” The chart noted, for example, that while other municipalities’ parking
fines generally range from $5 to $100, Ferguson’s is $102. The chart noted also that the charge
for “Weeds/Tall Grass” was as little as $5 in one city but, in Ferguson, it ranged from $77 to
$102. The report stated that the acting prosecutor had reviewed the City’s “high volume
offenses” and “started recommending higher fines on these cases, and recommending probation
only infrequently.” While the report stated that this recommendation was because of a “large
volume of non-compliance,” the recommendation was in fact emphasized as one of several ways
that the code enforcement system had been honed to produce more revenue.In combination with a high fine schedule, the City directs FPD to aggressively enforce
the municipal code. City and police leadership pressure officers to write citations, independent
of any public safety need, and rely on citation productivity to fund the City budget. In an email
from March 2010, the Finance Director wrote to Chief Jackson that “unless ticket writing ramps
up significantly before the end of the year, it will be hard to significantly raise collections next
year. What are your thoughts? Given that we are looking at a substantial sales tax shortfall, it’s
not an insignificant issue.” Chief Jackson responded that the City would see an increase in fines

snip

Chief Jackson stated that he was also “looking at different shift schedules which will place more
officers on the street, which in turn will increase traffic enforcement per shift.” Shortly
thereafter, FPD switched to the 12-hour shift schedule for its patrol officers, which FPD
continues to use. Law enforcement experience has shown that this schedule makes community
policing more difficult—a concern that we have also heard directly from FPD officers.
Nonetheless, while FPD heavily considered the revenue implications of the 12-hour shift and
certain other factors such as its impact on overtime and sick time usage, we have found no
evidence that FPD considered the consequences for positive community engagement. The City’s
2014 budget itself stated that since December 2010, “the percent of [FPD] resources allocated to
traffic enforcement has increased,” and “[a]s a result, traffic enforcement related collections
increased” in the following two years. The 2015 budget added that even after those initial
increases, in fiscal year 2012-2013, FPD was once again “successful in increasing their
proportion of resources dedicated to traffic enforcement” and increasing collections.


https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/ferguson_police_department_report.pdf

I had so much more info about this back when Michael Brown was murdered. I am to tired to research. Much more in the report.

Fact is most could not pay the fines and that added fines on top of fines.

Quotas and school to prison pipeline.