Are you more likely to get pulled over at the end of the month?

Question

I've heard police officers are more likely to pull someone over & give them a ticket toward the end of the month due to their "pull over count" or something along those lines. If this is true, does it affect their pay?

Answer 1

It is not true. They have no quota to fill. Urban Myth

Answer 2

Likely to get pulled over more at end of month? Possibly.

Will it affect their pay?  Not directly.

The "quotas" given out to patrol officers are often based on the current statistics of crime for that area.  It is often used as a basis to show that the officer is remaining active on duty instead of sleeping on the job, so to speak.  A high traffic road with a known speeding problem would logically have more than 1 incident per month/week/etc..

As far as affecting their pay, there is not a system of bonus/commission type payment done.  It does however, affect their general status and possible promotions/firing, so you could say that it does affect their pay.   However, this is true in nearly any organization that rewards  dedication and hard work.

Answer 3

When people ask me about quotas i tell them "no, we dont have quotas, we are allowed to pull over as many people as we want"

that being said, the whole quota thing is an urban myth, and really has more to do with the area you are in and what is expected from the police who have jurisdiction in that area than any "requirement"...

some of the larger areas have units whose only purpose is to run traffic.. generally speaking, those units will usually write several tickets a day, because that is the ONLY thing they do (traffic enforcement and accidents).. the other units are usually call driven (respond to calls) and hav less time to self initiate traffic stops, so generally they only pull people over when something really blatant has been done right in front of them...some very small departments dont have a whole lot going on, so they will frequently run traffic because the people in their jurisdiction expect it, and sometimes its the "only thing to do"..

where i work some of our people like to do traffic when they have some free time, and some people never work traffic unless something REALLY bad was done in their sight... and my department has no problem with this and lets people do whatever they are most comfortable doing, whenever they want to do it...

Answer 4

QUOTA'S ARE ILLEGAL!!!!!!

Answer 5

Contrary to the popular myth, police officers do not have a quota regarding speeding tickets.

The police officers I worked with adamantly denied having a quota, but did admit that the chief did expect each officer to write, on average, 2 tickets a day.  No one ever got in trouble for not writing a ticket on a particular day, but the chief would certainly question an officer that has gone 2 weeks without writing a speeding ticket.

How you react to being pulled over has the biggest impact on whether or not you get a ticket or a warning.  Be impolite or arguing with an officer is a sure way to get a ticket.  Another common way to get a ticket is to admit and apologize.  

To admit that you were speeding, but apologize, is like telling the cop, "Yeah I know that the speed limit is 45 mph and I know that I was going 65 mph and I don't care ... but I am sorry."  So, you will also likely get a ticket then.

The best way to avoid a ticket is to first, not speed.  The second best way is to be polite, answer the officers questions, call him or her sir or ma'am, and NEVER admit to knowing what the speed limit is.

"Oh, really, I didn't realize the speed limit was 45, I thought it was still 65."