$2 million, it turns out, is the magic number when trying to teach a lesson to the Los Angeles Police Department’s traffic division. Which lesson?, you may ask. It’s the one involving illegal (in California at least) quotas for traffic tickets, with an extra credit dose of payout for punishing officers when they don’t meet those quotas.
Officers Howard Chan and David Benioff, working for LAPD’s West Traffic Division, were awarded the money for winning a 2009 suit for harassment of various kinds resulting from the fact that they didn’t write a number of citations each day.
According to the officers, the issue dates back to 2006 when Captain Nancy Lauer took over the traffic division. As soon as she got there, the rumblings began with an alleged quota – or “goal”, in her words – of 18 tickets per day.
When Chan and Benioff wouldn’t cowtow to such lunacy, they received second-rate assignments as punishment, as well as being threatened with reassignment, flat-out removal from the unit, or suspension. In addition, the officers claimed they were being ranked against other “more productive” officers, and having their performance evaluations include their “productivity” and efficiency in ticket-writing.
The problem could have all stopped when the police union met with LAPD suits in 2009 to explain the state’s stance on the issue, but Chan and Benioff pushed forward; after all, they had been punished already. The case also could have been dealt with at a cheaper cost; Benioff’s attorney, Gregory Smith, threw a settlement offer of $500,000 out on the table, but the city kindly declined.
Speaking to the LA Times, Smith said: “We’re very hopeful that this will put an end to fleecing motorists on the west side of Los Angeles…Quotas are a direct violation of the vehicle code, and this case was about these officers being asked to break the law.”
By Phil Alex
