Ten Los Angeles motor officers have sued the city alleging that their supervisors retaliated against them for resisting traffic-ticket quotas, according to a court filing reviewed Thursday.
Attorneys for officers Philip Carr, Timothy Dacus, Kevin Cotter, Peter Landelius, Kevin Ree, Kevin Riley, Josh Sewell, Vincent Stroway, James Wallace and Jason Zapatka -- all of the West Traffic Division -- filed suit a week ago in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Among their allegations is that LAPD supervisors punished them for refusing to follow orders to implement traffic ticket quotas. They also allege that the amount of traffic tickets they produced was the basis for an illegal comparison among fellow West Traffic Bureau motor cops.
The punishments included being denied overtime and other unspecified benefits, as well as being given negative performance reviews.
The LAPD did not immediately comment on the allegations.
Ticket quotas are illegal under state law, since they can pressure police to write spurious tickets to meet the goal. The line between setting a quota and pushing officers to increase their productivity is a delicate one for field supervisors, who are often under pressure themselves to generate more citations.
In April, a jury awarded a pair of veteran LAPD officers -- also assigned to West Traffic Bureau -- $2 million after determining that LAPD supervisors had retaliated against the officers for complaining about alleged traffic ticket quotas.
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