Simon Power
National Party Justice & Corrections Spokesman

13 December 2006

Regional figures reveal traffic ticket targets

Denials that police have traffic ticket targets have been made to look shaky by data in the 2005/06 Police Financial Review, says National’s Justice & Corrections spokesman, Simon Power.

“The review shows that the Central Police District issued 46,524 tickets last year worth a total of $5.68 million.

“That’s 11,407 tickets and $1.07 million more than the next highest police district, Southern, and 12,375 tickets and $1.17 million more than Waikato.

“Remember that it was a leaked ‘Central District Highway Tasking Sheet’ that was exposed in June as telling officers to increase their ticket targets.

The sheet, dated 21 June, said in an instruction to staff: ‘Tactics: There is no special plan for tactics this week. But as it is the last week before the end of the accounting year for us it is a great opportunity to get our ticket count up to ensure we end up as the top group in Central. I suggest that you liaise with all the working units and organise 3R’s in areas with high volume traffic flows.’

“It was also a Central District memo, from Levin, which told staff that any who didn’t issue enough tickets would be named and shamed, and that ‘this may affect their annual pay increments’, while those who performed well would see that reflected in performance appraisals, along with ‘other benefits to top performers’.

“It’s clear from the Financial Review that this policy of targeting high volume traffic flows in the Central District not only worked, but worked extremely well.

“Denials by Police Minister Annette King and the Police Commissioner that there is no targeting or ticket quota seem tenuous.

“The orders in the Central District clearly had the desired effect – and they should admit it.”

ENDS

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