Yes, I am going to tell you that revenue generation does not factor, at all, into ticket writing. The city council that I work for contantly harps on us to stay off the highway, stop writing tickets, and stay in town. We still sit on the highway (15 minutes on the hour max), because if we don't people will speed relentlessly and someone will eventually get killed pulling out at an intersection. I give many more verbal warnings each month than I do written citations. Given that, the occasional court expense and car expenses, the city is lucky if they break even on traffic enforcement. Remember, everyone gets their cut of the money, and the funds that come back to the city do not go to the police department, rather it goes into the general fund. Most police departments are like this.
I have never heard of a ticket writing quota, ever. Illinois State Police do have a quota, but it is a contact quota. They are required to have minimum 3 contacts per shift. A contact could be a traffic stop, a motorist assist, etc....
Sure, there are speed traps, but they are not engineered that way. Rather, cops just find good places to hide. It's citizens that get bitter over being caught breaking the law that dub them speed traps.
Sorry, but I just get tired of people saying that cops are rolling revenue generators. If you knew how much money it takes to run a department vs. the fines and fees it generates, you would never say that.
