HOW DO WE TRACK GOOD POLICE WORK?

Does the Cincinnati Police Department impose quotas on officers for arrests
or traffic tickets?

At first glance, a flier circulated in District 4 -- "2004 Beat Cop of the
Month Rules" -- looks like a quota system, arousing the curiosity of a
prominent civil rights lawyer. But the "rules" govern a voluntary reward
system devised by Officer Tara Newberry, the Community Oriented Policing
liaison for Walnut Hills. Newberry's program encourages her colleagues to
look for infractions that detract from people's quality of life.

"Points will be awarded as follows," the flier says. Parking tickets: one
point. Moving violations: two points. Auto recovery: 12 points. Drug
trafficking arrest: 25 points. Littering ticket: 30 points. Pit bull
confiscation and arrest: 30 points.

"It absolutely is not a quota," says Fraternal Order of Police President
Harry Roberts, removing his copy of the flier from inside his hat. "It's a
way to reward officers out there doing the community will. That's what
these categories are, service to a community. If it were a contest to give
an award to the person who wrote the most tickets, that would be a quota --
and I am totally against that."

District 4 Capt. Richard Schmalz says Newberry started the incentive
program to encourage officers to maintain order in ways that don't generate
arrests but are "extreme problems in the community": junked autos,
overgrown weeds, broken windows, graffiti, putting up every day with loud
music.

"These almost mean more to you than a drug dealer living down the street,"
Schmalz says. "A quota system would come from me. She has no authority to
reward or discipline anybody. It's almost a beat-pride kind of thing, shall
we say."

Schmalz says as far as he knows the only reward for participation is
recognition in an internal newsletter. Participation in the contest is
voluntary.

"To get credit, you must provide a copy in the Walnut Hills folder at the
front desk," the flier says.

The contest is a good management tool that creates a positive atmosphere
for officers, according to Roberts.

"Let's be honest," he says. "Our police officers receive a lot more
criticism than accolades."

Critics of ticket quotas for police, who often include police unions, say
they remove officer discretion. Quotas are inherently punitive: if you
don't make these numbers, your job is on the line. But how else to measure
police officers' performance?

"In any occupation, you have to be critiqued," Roberts says. "How do you
critique what an officer does?"

In his 25 years on the police force, officers have traditionally been
judged in categories similar to those used by Newberry, he says.

"This is, unfortunately, the main way we keep track of what cops do and how
they do it," Roberts says.

However, on traditional worksheets, moving violations carry the most
weight, according to Roberts. He likes the fact that Newberry's contest
places the least significance on traffic violations. It's a response to the
concerns police hear most often from citizens.

For instance, "new points for 2004" include two points for "shoes on the
wire." A pair of shoes tied together and hung from utility wires used to
advertise drug houses, but that's not so often the case anymore, Schmalz says.

"I think sometimes the kids just do it to screw with us now," he says.

Even so, people complain to police about the practice.

"A lot of it is perception," Schmalz says. "If a community perceives that
shoes on a wire are a drug dealing house, then we catch heck."

Rewarding officers who deal with the "offense" simply encourages public service.