Florida Cops Cry Foul on Ticket Quota

The sleepy little Florida town of Waldo has less than 1,100 residents but it’s been named the third worst speed trap in all of North America.

A little light was shed on that dubious distinction Tuesday night when five officers from the city’s police department told the City Council they’ve been ordered to write tickets – a lot of them, according to First Coast News.

Officer Brandon Roberts told commissions that Chief Mike Szabo enacted a 12-ticket rule for each 12-hour shift. Write up motorists, he was quoted by the Gainesville Sun as saying, or officers would face reprimands.

“We’re doing this with a heavy heart,” Roberts said.

Waldo was named the third worst speed trap in all of North America during a 2012 survey overseen by the National Motorists Association.

Records indicate about half of the city’s budget is derived from “police revenue,” First Coast News reported.

Ticket quotas are considered illegal under Florida law.

Szabo, the Sun reported, has been suspended pending the outcome of a state investigation into the issue.

The issue of quotas was brought up on the state level earlier this year when Gov. Rick Scott floated a proposal that would have given Florida Highway Patrol troopers bonuses for increasing their number of contacts per hour. That, union negotiators and other lawmakers said, amounted to would-be quotas, according to WFLA.

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