.jpg){kind=link}
When an anonymous officer from the Atlanta Police Department leaked a photo of their weekly evaluation chart, it raised more than a few concerns. Despite clearly showing cops earning accolades for traffic stops and juvenile arrests, APD’s Deputy Chief claimed it WASN’T a quota system. But how can that be true?
He insists that the system reflects the time it takes to complete tasks. But even IF that were true, it’s still bad: the faster they complete tasks, the less attention they pay to making sure they’re doing things right!
“[They’re] incentivized to arrest people … for the harshest offense possible,” counters Tiffany Roberts, a director at the Southern Center for Human Rights. Atlanta isn’t alone, either.
From New York to Dallas, cities across the country have been busted for quotas and reward systems. In 2018 for instance, 12 NYPD officers sued their department for punishing them when they didn’t comply with their quota system.
And you can guess who these quotas largely attack. One former officer has even described following quotas as “hunting Black and Hispanic people.”
When police are incentivized to prioritize punishment and quotas over safety and justice, can the idea that they “protect and serve” even be true? One thing is for sure: a system that isn't even honest with us is a system that's rotten from the inside out.