Email Raises Ticket Quota Questions

State police spokesman says there is no quota system

Are state troopers being told to go on a ticket writing blitz on Friday?

An e-mail obtained by NBC Connecticut calls on troopers in Troop I to write 180 tickets in the next 24 hours.

"(W)e have to issue at least 60 infractions/Misdemeanors each shift for a total of 180 infractions in order to outperform both Troop F and Troop G," the e-mail states.

A lieutenant based in the Bethany barracks wrote the e-mail on Thursday, which suggests two other troops were competing for tickets.

"The back story is this: One day Troop F issued 301 tickets. Troop G responded by issuing 345 in one day. We can do better," the e-mail states.

The e-mail has outraged the president of the state police union.

"We’re disappointed and shocked, actually," Andrew Matthews said. "We’ve never seen anything like this in writing. It’s clearly a violation of 29-2B, which clearly says the agency cannot have a quota."

Troopers are taught to use discretion when writing tickets, Matthews added.

"We’re not going to be out there writing tickets just to generate revenue," he said.

Under state statute, a quota system is not allowed.

"There is no competition," state police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance said. "We simply want to do the best we can do for the people of Connecticut."

The commander at the barracks was trying to remind his staff to enforce the law as much as they can, he added.

"Our objective here is simple," Lt. Vance said. "We want to drive down the number of accidents."

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