For years the police have claimed that there is no quota for issuing speeding and other highway patrol related tickets. The police claim that the focus is on reducing speeding and saving lives, and increased revenue is just not relevant.tweak now power packdownload

However, the NZ Herald have uncovered an interesting internal memo from the central north island. It urges their police to "get the ticket count up" and to set up road blocks to target large volumes of traffice and so finish top in their group.tweak now power packdownload

This would seem to imply that the number of tickets issued is being used for comparison in some way or another. While there may not be an official quota system put in place by the government, it definitely appears that something exists unofficially.tweak now power packdownload

Why is this a problem? Surely we want to save lives on the road.tweak now power packdownload

I think there are two problems here. Firstly, there is a major conflict of interest. With a focus on revenus generation, there is the real temptation to issue tickets where they would normally be needed. Previously (well sometime ago now), the police had a lot more discretion as to whether to issue tickets, and could make a determination as to whether it was really needed. Now, that discretion is significantly more limited.tweak now power packdownload

Secondly, and more importantly, there is a lot less respect for the police these days. The reputation of the police has dropped significantly over the last decade as they have little public sympathy for participating at what at least appears to be a blatant attempt to generate revenue. It was less of a problem when the traffic cops and police were totally separate, and when the police did not focus on issuing tickets so much.tweak now power packdownload

But it is a problem now. Police are not seem in as good a light as they used to be. If the appearence of revenue generation continues, it will be difficult for them to regain the good image that they used to have.tweak now power packdownload

Posted by Dave Bryant at 12:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) tweak now power packdownload