Supporters said the law would allow police officers to do their jobs, not work to meet production goals. New Jersey police officers perform a difficult, dangerous and at times thankless job for our citizens. The law defines quotas as any requirement for a number of arrests, summonses, citations or warnings to be issued in a given time period. The law also forbids promotions or personal citations to be given to any officers based on any numerical goal. One lawmaker who sponsored the measure likened quotas to cancer.
Ticket quotas are an invitation to overzealousness and carelessness.
An earlier version of the bill was changed to allow police supervisors to continue to monitor officers they suspect of practicing racial profiling. Last year, the U.S. Justice Department reached a legal settlement with the state, which agreed to provide regular reports on state police reforms, including the number of motor vehicle stops, each driver's race, a reason for the stop and actions taken by the trooper. State police officials maintain there are no quotas for the approximately 900 troopers patrolling New Jersey highways. Representatives from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police also said local departments do not use quotas. Police officials did ask that the bill be changed to allow supervisors to monitor an officer's job performance.