LAS VEGAS — The Northwest Area Command leaders have instituted a quota requirement for proactive arrests, according to a Las Vegas Police Protective Association memo obtained by the Baltimore Post-Examiner.
The police policy has been highly criticized and outlawed in many states throughout the country.
David Roger, the General Counsel for the LVPPA issued the memo and it is addressed to the union members:
“It has been brought to our attention that the NW Area Command leaders have instituted a quota requirement for proactive arrests. Some officers have already been given contact reports for failing to meet established quotas. Apparently, officers have been told that failure to meet quotas will lead to discipline. Please send your contact reports to our office asap so we can draft the lawsuit complaint. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call our Executive Board representatives,” the memo stated.
According to police officers who have spoken to the Baltimore Post-Examiner a negative contact report is the beginning stages of discipline.
“How can you do proactive arrests when your computer terminal is filled with stacked calls for service,” one officer said.
Arrest and ticket quotas have been highly criticized in law enforcement
Quotas for arrests and/or citations are archaic, bad policy and are against the law in many states, including California, Utah, New York, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey, just to name a few.
Lawsuits involving quotas brought against police departments over the years have ended with judgments against the departments in the millions of dollars.
Quotas take away officer discretion, which many times leads to a decrease in the quality of the officers’ arrests, stops, and citations. A police officer’s professional judgement along with the appropriate circumstances on whether an arrest and or citation should be made is further diminished by quotas which can lead to enforcement actions for the wrong reasons.
Quotas can also have a negative impact on community relations with the police.
Once again Sheriff Joe Lombardo, who runs the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, has demonstrated his lack of leadership.
Whether Lombardo approved those actions and or was unaware of what Captain Sasha Larkin, the commander of the Northwest Area Command was doing, is moot. It all falls back on Lombardo’s shoulders and the buck stops there.
The Baltimore Post-Examiner is also investigating whether similar quotas have been implemented in other Las Vegas police area commands and in the traffic bureau.
Once again I have to ask: what’s going on Joe?
And, say it isn’t so Joe.
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