Says deputies punished for writing too few tickets
The union representing Putnam County Sheriff’s Office deputies said it has filed a complaint with the state labor board alleging that its members are penalized for failing to meet quotas for writing tickets.
The Sheriff’s Office PBA announced on May 10 that an action has been filed with the state Public Employees Relations Board (PERB) against Sheriff Kevin McConville, Putnam County and County Executive Kevin Byrne.
Neither the union nor the sheriff or county executive’s offices responded to emails about the allegation, but a Facebook post by the PBA said Capt. James Schepperly, who heads the Sheriff’s Office’s patrol division, has used quotas “as a gauge of a deputy’s performance,” in violation of department policy and state law.
The Sheriff’s Office only publicizes its use-of-force policy. But state labor law bars police agencies from penalizing officers — including “reassignment, a scheduling change, an adverse evaluation, a constructive dismissal, the denial of a promotion or the denial of overtime” — for failing to meet quotas for writing tickets or arresting or stopping people.
Putnam deputies who did not write enough tickets “had their schedules changed and were subjected to a change of duty assignment or location as punishment,” according to the PBA. “It’s our expectation that once our case is heard by PERB they will side with the PBA and these unlawful, retaliatory actions, that create an increase in tax dollars, will stop.”
According to data provided by the state Department of Motor Vehicles, Putnam deputies wrote 5,422 tickets in 2024, 20 percent fewer than 2023. Most drivers were cited in Southeast, followed by Philipstown and Putnam Valley. The most common infraction was an expired or missing state safety inspection, followed by driving without a license, lack of registration, speeding and disobeying a traffic device.
According to Jackie Fielding, a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice in New York City who co-authored a 2022 report on ticket quotas, they “can incentivize officers to prioritize enforcement activities that can be completed quickly and easily,” rather than “investigating more complex or violent crimes that significantly impact public safety.”
“In the more extreme case, officers can resort to malfeasance to meet their quotas: fabricating a reason for a stop or arrest, assigning tickets to fictitious drivers or even recording tickets for dead people,” she said.
One case occurred in February 2023, when the Westchester County district attorney charged a state trooper, Edward Longo, with writing at least 32 tickets over 10 years on the Sprain and Taconic parkways for drivers he never stopped, including someone who had died before the ticket was issued. Longo was charged with 32 felony counts.
The trooper who filed the paperwork charging Longo said his division “monitors its officers for performance-related goals in the issuance of traffic tickets,” according to The Journal News, and may counsel those “who do not meet expectations or whose productivity falls below their peers.”
