Bill would forbid use of ticket quotas by SC police agencies

A bill is being processed through the South Carolina General Assembly that would make citation quotas for law enforcement illegal in the state. Legislators who proposed the bill say it will help rebuild the seemingly tainted relationship between law enforcement and the people they serve.

The bill was introduced in the House in January. It would prevent law enforcement agencies from setting traffic ticket quotas or assessing officers’ performances by the number of citations they write.

Five state legislators are sponsoring the bill, including Rep. Justin T. Bamberg, who originated it. Bamberg said he hopes it would renew the relationship between the community and law enforcement.

“Right now, the climate of law enforcement-citizen relations in South Carolina, and in the country, is rocky,” Bamberg said. “The majority of the community now looks at law enforcement with tarnished badges and we know that is not the case.”

Bamberg represented the family of Walter Scott, the black man who was shot multiple times in the back by former North Charleston officer Michael Slager. Scott was trying to run away from Slager in fear of going to jail for unpaid child support, according to Scott’s family. Slager’s lawyer said the fatal shooting would not have happened if not for a police quota system that allegedly required officers to pull over three drivers per day. Scott was stopped by Slager because of a broken third brake light. Slager has been charged with Scott’s murder.

The North Charleston police denied using a quota-based system, as do a majority of Pee Dee agencies.

Florence Police Chief Allen Heidler said his department does not operate under any citation quotas and said the pressures of that type of system could easily lead officers to making questionable traffic stops.

“We conduct business with the belief that traffic citation quotas are inappropriate and very dangerous for law enforcement agencies,” Heidler said. “Quotas promote quantity and not quality. They remove officer discretion and place undue pressure on them to write citations.”

The Florence County sheriff’s public information officer, Michael Nunn, said the sheriff's office has never used ticket quotas and “while the number of citations might be one indicator of the diligence of an officer, it is by no means the sole or even primary basis for determining how hard an officer is working.”

“The overall quality of the citizen encounters is a better measure of how effective an officer is,” Nunn said.

Administrative Lt. Jimmy Horton of the Bennettsville Police Department denied the use of quotas at both the department and any agencies within the Fourth Circuit Law Enforcement Network. The South Carolina Department of Public Safety also said it does not use quotas as a means of evaluating troopers. Darlington Police Chief Danny Watson said his agency does not administer quotas for officers, but he doesn’t deny that they may agencies that do. What Watson does question is whether quotas are an effective way to evaluate officers.

“I really think it is very foolish for anyone to tell an officer that they must write this many citations or put this many people in jail to be considered a good officer,” Watson said. “How successful your agency is can’t be determined by how many citations are written or how few. It is determined by the overall picture of your crime statistics and whether people feel safe living in your jurisdiction.”

Bamberg said law enforcement agencies are not the only ones to blame. The General Assembly also bears some responsibility when it comes to this issue. According to the South Carolina Judicial Department, both state courts and the Criminal Justice Academy are funded by fines and fees added to ticket and conviction costs. The state requires cities to add 107.5 percent of their local fine to a ticket’s cost on a traffic violation. A $25 surcharge is also added, along with a $5 surcharge that exclusively funds police training. Bamberg has a problem with that.

“The ability for the state to adequately train officers should not be directly linked to ticket revenue,” Bamberg said. “Law enforcement plays such an important role in our communities … they are worth investing in.”

Bamberg plans to introduce companion bills that would target areas linked to citation quotas, including the underfunding of law enforcement agencies. For now, Bamberg hopes that this bill will get the conversation started.

“I want law enforcement and the communities they serve to have a mutual respect, understanding and appreciation for one another,” Bamberg said. “This is an issue that has to be owned by everyone.”

This story was originally published February 13, 2016 at 7:38 PM with the headline "Bill would forbid use of ticket quotas by SC police agencies."