Do Police Have Ticket Quotas? The Answer Is Complicated

Brianna Longoria got married in December 2024. The day after her wedding she was pulled over in Phoenix. She passed a breathalyzer test. She was arrested for DUI anyway.

Then body camera footage captured what officers said when they thought no one was really listening.

One officer worried out loud that she'd get kicked off her squad if she didn't "get a DUI." Another — the officer who had initially stopped Longoria — told her not to worry about it.

"You can. You can," the stopping officer said.

The charges against Longoria were eventually dropped. But the footage exists. And she has filed a lawsuit that could take years to play out. Meanwhile she had cervical cancer appointments to make and a honeymoon fund that went to legal fees instead of New York.

"I just want my life back to normal," she said.

The Official Answer vs. Reality

The Phoenix Police Department says it does not have DUI quotas. At least 26 states and Washington, D.C. have laws specifically prohibiting police departments from enforcing ticket or arrest quotas. On paper the practice is widely illegal.

In practice, the story is messier.

A former NYPD officer described what she experienced when she joined the department more than 20 years ago — specific expectations for arrests and tickets every month. Meeting those numbers could mean a transfer to a specialized unit or getting the time off you requested. Missing them had its own consequences. A judge who reviewed the NYPD's post-quota "performance goals" in 2013 put it plainly — "It is difficult to see any difference between a performance goal and a quota."

In Maryland — where quotas are prohibited — state troopers at one location were offered candy bars as an incentive to make more traffic stops. Three years before that, troopers statewide were reportedly told certain stop numbers could mean rewards like new vehicles while low numbers could mean disciplinary action. In Illinois a state representative who worked in law enforcement called quota pressure a "dirty little secret" in the state — and when asked if he personally had ever had to meet such quotas he declined to answer, citing fear of retaliation.

What the Research Actually Shows

One interesting finding from economists who studied the question — the popular belief that cops rush to issue more tickets at the end of the month to hit their numbers appears to be largely a myth. Research on state highway patrol officers found that when a quota is in place tickets tend to spike mid-month, not at the end, and that without a quota ticket issuance stays relatively consistent throughout the month.

But the same research found something more troubling. When several states passed laws restricting police quotas the rate at which highway patrol officers issued citations actually went up. Banning quotas didn't reduce enforcement — it may have increased it, possibly because officers were trying to demonstrate productivity in other ways.

Why It Matters Beyond Inconvenience

A California attorney who has handled multiple police quota lawsuits put the danger plainly. When officers are under pressure to produce numbers they start taking chances they otherwise wouldn't — making stops and arrests they know are questionable because their livelihood depends on meeting a benchmark.

For civilians in certain communities that pressure isn't abstract. Chicago resident Eric Wilkins — a father of two who has been stopped by police once or twice a year on average, including after he filed a lawsuit against the city — described what goes through his mind every time he sees police lights in his rearview mirror.

"Will I go home, or will I go to jail, or will I get killed?" he said. "Those are the things that instantaneously go through your mind while the officer's behind you."

Black and Latino drivers are stopped and subjected to use of force at higher rates than white drivers according to data cited in Wilkins' lawsuit against Chicago.

The Argument For Keeping Some Standards

Not everyone opposes performance expectations for officers. Some police leaders argue that banning quotas entirely makes it impossible to set clear expectations or evaluate whether officers are actually doing their jobs. The Central Ohio Chiefs Association made exactly that point in response to new anti-quota legislation — if an officer makes zero arrests all year and a supervisor acknowledges it, does that now count as imposing a quota?

It's a reasonable operational question. The tension between department accountability and the real documented harm of pressure-driven enforcement hasn't been resolved by any state law yet.

Longoria, the newlywed from Phoenix, is still waiting for her lawsuit to move forward. She wants to become a nurse. A DUI arrest on her record — even one where charges were dropped — makes that path harder. The officers on that body camera footage are still employed.

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