Law Enforcement Quotas

By Robert Phillips, Deputy District Attorney (Ret).

Except for Vehicle Code violations, citizen contact quotas are not illegal in California even though probably not a good idea. 

I’ve recently heard rumors concerning various California law enforcement agencies imposing upon their patrol and traffic officers a requirement that they conduct a minimum number per shift of what might best be termed as “contacts” (or “citizen contacts”) with individuals on the street.  On its face, the apparent intent of such a policy is to encourage officers to get out of their respective patrol and traffic cars and talk to citizens, making their presence known. On its face, such a requirement seems appropriate, good police work, and if conducted in a positive, respectful manner, good public relations.  But when a law enforcement agency attaches to such a policy a required minimum number of such citizen contacts, often with possible counseling or discipline imposed for an officer’s failure to adequately comply, we have to ask ourselves whether we are wandering into the area of a possibly prohibited “quota” system. 

In evaluating any individual law enforcement agency’s policies dealing with this issue, we have to ask ourselves three questions:

(1) What is meant by the term “citizen contact ”

(2) Does a requirement that an officer conduct a minimum ....