New Ohio law targets ticket quotas
A new Ohio law targets law enforcement agencies that pressure officers to meet ticket quotas.
Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law a bill to outlaw a ticket or arrest mandate. The new law establishes that no requirement or suggestion can be made for an officer to meet a quota, nor can a benefit be offered to an officer based on the officer’s quota.
A quota is defined in the new law as “a mandate of a certain number of arrests made, or citations issued, for any offense that a local or state police officer must meet in a specified time period.”
Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney, D-Westlake, said the new law is necessary because ticket quotas can be used by local municipalities “to help generate additional revenue for the city, often at the expense of Ohio residents.”
New ticket quota law in effect Oct. 1
Law enforcement agencies soon will be prohibited from using quotas to evaluate, promote, compensate, transfer or discipline a local or state police officer. Agencies will also be forbidden from offering a financial reward or other benefits to officers for meeting quotas.
Law enforcement officials or agencies, however, will be permitted to collect and analyze data on the number of arrests made and citations issued by officers. The information is touted to help ensure officers do not neglect their duties or violate legal obligations.
Additionally, the state’s Attorney General will be required to make available a form for officers to use to report the use of quotas. An option would be available for officers to anonymously make the report. The Attorney General will be mandated to investigate quota allegations.
If a determination is made that ticket quotas were used by an agency, the Attorney General’s office would be required to order the official or agency to cease and desist quota usage.
ICYMI: Arbitrary ticket quotas don’t make us safer—they just put pressure on good officers to issue unnecessary tickets to help pad city budgets. My bipartisan bill to BAN police ticket & arrest quotas recently passed the Ohio House 91-0, now it’s on to the Senate 🎥👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/jsYG3zW6LJ
— Bride Rose Sweeney (@RepBrideSweeney) June 10, 2025
Officials back rule change
Supporters said the new rule provides law enforcement officers with needed discretion versus “an arbitrary quota system used to generate local revenue.”
“Currently, in Ohio, it is perfectly legal to mandate that a police officer issue a certain number of tickets every day, regardless of the public safety needs of their community,” Sweeney said in prepared remarks. “This is bad for police and bad for our communities.”
Sweeney added that law enforcement officials should be evaluated based on their police work, not the quantity of tickets written.
Independence, Ohio, Police Chief Robert Butler told a House committee that ticket quotas undermine the very foundation of his profession.
“They erode public trust by creating an environment where officers are pressured to issue citations or make arrests not based on the merits of each situation, but to meet arbitrary numbers,” Butler stated.
Carolyn Brakey, a Geauga County commissioner, communicated to a Senate committee that when enforcement decisions put revenue targets over public safety, the entire moral basis for law enforcement is compromised.
“Quotas invert the purpose of policing,” Brakey said. “They turn a protective function into a predatory one.”
Brakey and others said the new law restores balance. LL