Are Police Ticket Quotas A Real Thing in New York?

There has been a lot of talk lately about the way that police agencies far and wide enforce the various laws around town. Whether you're in a big city like Buffalo or the Big Apple or in a smaller town like Cheektowaga or Nyack, police departments and sheriff's offices are being relied on more and more every day to provide additional value to their communities.

By value, we don't just mean the community benefit that comes from having police officers and county sheriffs in our neighborhoods; they also have a financial component to it, and the money agencies generate is often a key part of a village, town, city, or county budget. If you need proof of this, just take a look at your local municipal budget to see how much money the local PD is expected to generate every year.

Knowing that the people are who are charged to protect and serve you also have to generate money for the government, it begs us to need to ask a key question.

Are Police Ticket Quotas A Real Thing in New York?

Now, if you ask any politician or leader in a police agency, they will proclaim with force that ticket quotas are not a thing. Many will take personal offense if you ask them if they have ticketing and revenue quotas to meet. Some will even point to Chapter 31, Article 7, Section § 215-a of the Consolidated Laws of New York State that officially makes it illegal to penalize a police employee who fails to meet a quota... However, one thing you will not find in state law is a prohibition on governments from having a ticket quota.

Recently, the town of Tonawanda accused its police department of participating in an illegal work slowdown, a type of labor action that falls under the strike category. Town officials knew that something was wrong because they saw a large decrease in the amount of money the police department was generating.

According to the 2025 Town of Tonawanda Budget, the town expects to receive more than $1 million in fines, fees, and bail forfeitures that are generated through police action. The same applies in Cheektowaga, which has nearly $1.4 million in fine, forfeitures, and miscellaneous police revenues; the city of Buffalo, which has more than $14 million budgeted, and even New York City plans to generate nearly $1 billion in revenue.

What do you think? Are ticket quotas a thing?