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New Illinois Law Bans Police Ticket Quotas

Flickr user woodleywonderworks / "police trooper writing a ticket" (CC BY 2.0)

Some police departments in Illinois could be issuing fewer tickets in the new year. 

Credit Flickr user woodleywonderworks / "police trooper writing a ticket" (CC BY 2.0)

A new state law went into effect that aims to get rid of ticket quotas.

Few police departments would ever admit to having a target number of tickets officers have to write each month. Even if there's no official policy in place, some police departments still follow a loose system.

State Senator Andy Manar says he was approached by cops around the state who said they were being evaluated based on the number of tickets they wrote. Manar says quotas can lessen the quality of law enforcement, in favor of quantity.

"Police departments, whether they serve a small town or a county or a large urban city in the state, should not exist to be revenue-generating operations."

Manar's legislation was signed by Governor Pat Quinn in the summer, and took effect last week.

Editor's Note: WILL's Hannah Meisel wrote the original story.

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