OPERATION NATION REPORT
1/31/2009 (links updated July 5, 2019)
Ever been pulled over by Tempe Police? Did the arresting officer grill you about possibly being under the influence of alcohol…even though it was 1 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon and you were only out driving because you were on your lunch break from work? Perhaps it was the end of the month and the potential arresting officer had not filled their quota for DUI arrests for the month.
The memo, dated January 16, 2009, doesn’t lie. CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PDF DOCUMENT. Tempe “V Squad” Police officers are required to have at least two DUI arrests each month; if not, they are either reprimanded or fired by their commanding officer. In other words, you could get arrested and jailed for a DUI, especially today being the last day of the month, whether you’ve been drinking or not, so a Tempe cop can fill his/her quota for the month; and save their job.
Attempts to reach the City of Tempe for comment were unsuccessful.
To my knowledge, Chandler has a similar quota specifically for its traffic division. I concur that having a quota for any particular violation is disgusting.
I don’t see the point, what if an officer who didn’t fill his monthly quota stops me but I am not DUI… Do I get a ticket for this? I don’t think it’s that difficult for these officers to fill the quota, there are plenty DUI cases on Saturday nights.
Something is not right in this picture, sure officers need to do their job but I think their actions should also be based on some objective rules. Having a DUI quota will lead them into subjectivity.