Former DeKalb County Police Officer Acknowledges “Unwritten” Program
Thanks to the DeKalb County DUI Lawyers and to videotape of a police officer allegedly planting marijuana on a suspect, the spotlight has been turned on the DeKalb County (Georgia) Police Department, with accusations that the department put a quota system in place that encouraged unconstitutional arrests. A former DeKalb County police officer, interviewed by a local television news program, admitted that such a program, while unwritten, was “effectively communicated and enforced.” He said that officers were ranked according to the number of arrests they make, and that those who come up at the bottom are given less desirable work assignments.
The police officer accused of planting the drugs during a 2012 arrest was indicted in February, 2014. He turned himself in and was put on restrictive duty. Prosecutors say he faces up to five years in prison, if convicted. The officer, during the course of an internal investigation, admitted that the department had an arrest quota.
DeKalb County, however, is not the only Georgia municipality to have arrest or ticket quotas in place, according to former police officers. Allegations that Atlanta law enforcement officers have maintained quotas for years have been corroborated in court. Former Atlanta police officers charged with conducting illegal public strip searches—forcing suspects to pull their pants down in public—have responded that they had to do so to meet their daily arrest quotas. The officers indicated that they had to make at least five arrests every day—one for each person in their unit.
In addition, in 2010, an e-mail from a Roswell, Georgia, police department supervisor advised officers that of a mandatory annual DUI arrest quota for its officers, telling them their performance evaluations would be based in part on meeting the quota.
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