Most officers focus on safety, not quotas

Police officers hear a lot of jabs about "filling a quota" when they give someone a citation.

Ogden police officers have been hearing it even more since controversy arose this summer. Under an ordinance passed in June, then rescinded in August by the City Council, officers had to get a score of 80 percent on their personal evaluations.

Part of the evaluation is citation writing.

Performance standards were adopted in 1999 when officers decided they wanted a master officer rank. The rank allows those who do not get promoted to sergeant or lieutenant to receive pay equal to those ranks, said Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner.

A master officer is expected to maintain a standard of performance and more is expected of him or her, Greiner said.

Standards set in 1999 require a traffic officer and master traffic officer to write an average of eight citations per day, with six of those for moving violations, to get a "5" rating on their evaluation.

Patrol officers and master patrol officers have to write an average of five citations per week, with three of those being moving violations.

"It was a decision along the way that is what they wanted to do for the whole division," Greiner said.

Many departments along the Wasatch Front, however, don't have a ticket-writing standard in the form of numbers.

"We try to stay away from numbers as much as we can," said Utah Highway Patrol trooper Jeff Nigbur.

UHP troopers have a performance plan where they sit down with their supervising officer and set goals. A trooper may have a range of four to five goals he or she wants to accomplish.

Rather than focusing on numbers, troopers are held to an honor system of sorts, knowing they are on taxpayer time.

"We do have a job, and we are required to do it," Nigbur said.

Many other departments run on the same philosophy because no day is ever the same.

The Salt Lake Police Department leaves it at the officers discretion of whether or not to write tickets, with no specific number set.

"Everyone can and does write tickets," said detective Kevin Joiner, of the Salt Lake Police Department. "We just go out and do our job."