MPD doesn’t set traffic ticket quotas

Public trust is more important than writing tickets, according to Maricopa’s police chief. 

That’s why Maricopa Police Department does not use or enforce any quotas for tickets, arrests or traffic stops.  

“Quotas erode public trust, which is in direct opposition of our community policing philosophy of constantly striving to build and maintain public trust,” Chief Mark Goodman told InMaricopa.  

Both the cities of Queen Creek and Casa Grande, which have roughly the same population as Maricopa, also do not enforce quotas on their officers. But Arizona remains one of 24 states where ticket quotas are legal for departments to enforce, according to the Brennan Center. 

Scottsdale Police Department, for example, has a quota of 2,400 DUI arrests per year. 

In 2015, then-Gov. Doug Ducey vetoed House Bill 2410, which would have outlawed ticket quotas in the state. 

Goodman doesn’t agree with that decision. 

“I strongly believe in the value and power of contemporary community policing strategies,” Goodman told InMaricopa in an interview before he took the reins at MPD last year. 

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