A state Senate bill that passed its initial hurdle would prevent Oklahoma law enforcement agencies from rewarding or punishing officers based on the number of traffic tickets written.
Senate Bill 346, authored by Sen. Nathan Dahm (R- Broken Arrow), would restrict any political subdivision or agency of the state from establishing a formal or informal plan to evaluate, promote, compensate or discipline an officer based on the number of citations issued.
Oklahoma is one of 14 states that already have laws prohibiting officers from being assigned specific quotas for traffic citations. However, SB 346 goes a step farther with its proposed restriction against the agencies or government entities.
The bill passed the Senate’s General Government committee last week and is headed to the full Senate for consideration.
In response to the measure, Lawton City Manager Michael Cleghorn said the municipality does not endorse traffic citation quotas.
“We do not support quota systems and will never support quota systems as long as I am city manager, but we do expect our officers to enforce the law,” he said in a prepared statement.
SB 346 also would allow an elected representative or a hired employee to be removed from office if they are found to require citation quotas.
“It’s no secret that quotas exist for many jurisdictions across the state,” Dahm said. “These practices prohibit our law enforcement officers from effectively doing their jobs. Instead of focusing on more important issues at hand to protect our peace and public safety, they are forced to write simple violations in order to meet their quota. This should not be tolerated.”
Fines from traffic tickets are used by most cities in Oklahoma to supplement their municipal budgets. This Senate bill, Dahm said, would force those cities and towns to “better handle” their budgets. Dahm claims SB 346 is a nonpartisan issue.
Daniel McClure, legal counsel for the Oklahoma Municipal League, said his organization has not opposed the bill, but he intends to talk to legislators before it heads to the full Senate.
“We want to see what his (Dahm’s) concerns are and how we can address them,” he said.
The measure would also ensure that no justice or judge is expected or required to collect a predetermined amount of money from persons convicted of a traffic offense within a certain period.
Cleghorn also said in his prepared statement there is no quota system regarding fines levied by Lawton’s municipal judge. However, municipalities could still obtain the court’s budgetary information with estimates of court collections in a budget year.
Dahm said he introduced the bill because an officer whom he didn’t name was facing punishment for not writing enough tickets.
Originally filed by Dahm in 2020 and approved by the Senate, the proposed legislation did not make it all the way through the legislative process due to the shortened session caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.