CLEVELAND — House Bill 131 is making its way through the Ohio House of Representatives. It would ban police chiefs and sheriffs from requiring quotas for traffic tickets.
Right now, it is legal for any police chief or sheriff to require a certain number of tickets to be written.
“Ticket quotas are detrimental in police work,” said Willoughby Hills Police Chief Matthew Naegele.
Naegele supports the bill, and he said so do most other police chiefs.
“When we collectively heard that this bill was coming through in the state of Ohio, it’s not like there was shock or anybody was surprised by something like this coming forward. Quite frankly, I don’t think too many police chiefs are too bothered by it because most that I’m aware of aren’t doing it to begin with,” explained Naegele.
Robert Butler is the Chief of the Independence Police Department. He is also the President of the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police. He testified in support of HB 131 on Tuesday in Columbus.
“Using an outdated, lazy matrix from the past is not something that is going to push us forward to the future to build community trust,” said Butler.
The bipartisan bill has the support of both the Fraternal Order of Police and the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, which are two of the state’s largest unions representing officers and deputies.
