Are Ticket Quotas Legal in Oklahoma?

An interesting debate unfolded on one of my buddy's Facebook posts over the weekend. He had gotten a ticket in one of Oklahoma's infamous speed trap towns and he's looking for a way to fight it.

Naturally, the conversation rolled over the edge of the legality of speed traps and landed somewhere around the old rumor that municipalities have ticket quotas... which is a long-standing urban legend across the country, but there's more to it than meets the logic.

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Can a municipality have a ticket quota?

The answer is complicated.

Almost all cities and states across the nation indeed have a law or statute on the books that explicitly prohibits creating an infraction or violation just to hit an arbitrary number of tickets--AKA--a quota... but that doesn't mean they don't exist. It falls towards police ethics policies stating they aren't supposed to falsify a violation and make up a charge on the spot.

That being said, actual quotas are referred to differently in most places.

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I reached out to my cop buddy in my own hometown and asked him about quotas. He says law enforcement is like any other job. While there is no official "quota," the bosses set "productivity goals" for "the team."

As with the productivity goals at any job, if you underperform, you'll likely be looking for a new job.

He added that when he first started in our little Mayberry Sooner State town, the advice he received from on-high was "Write two tickets each week if you want to rank up." After years of drudging through violation paperwork, he left that aspect of his job behind when he became a school district resource officer. He's happier in that position since he (and so many others) feels that tickets are just more taxes.

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Are quotas legal in Oklahoma?

Well, I couldn't find a direct answer to that question online and my lawyer cousin is too busy defending the obviously guilty at the moment to help... but I did find an interesting blurb from last year.

In February 2023, Oklahoma State Senator Nathan Dahm filed Senate Bill 82 to prohibit law enforcement entities from requiring officers, judges, and justices to fulfill traffic ticket quotas.

If you read between the lines, ticket quotas are legal in Oklahoma at the moment. And given the history of SB-82, it'll likely stay that way because the bill fizzled out during last year's sessions.

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Are there any laws on the books about this?

Yeah, sort of.

Oklahoma has a statute that says any town or municipality that collects more than 50% of the city budget from traffic tickets will lose the authority to write them.

While that sounds all well and good, and the state has disolved a few police departments over the years directly attributed to this law, there are a dozen or so towns that generate upwards of 75% of their civil funds through speed trap ticketing. Here are some of the worst violators.

Notorious Oklahoma Speed Traps to Avoid

From the random single towns in certain areas to the unrelenting ticketing smorgasbord that is US-69, here is a rundown of the worst Oklahoma speed traps you'll want to avoid in your travels.

Keep in mind that this isn't every speed trap in Oklahoma. 55% of all Oklahoma towns generate at least 10% of their municipal revenue... These are just the overachievers.

Gallery Credit: Kelso

Where Should Buc-ee's Build Their First Oklahoma Location?

With Buc-ee's being back on the expansion bandwagon, Oklahomans are feeling like we're due for our first location... but where should the beaver conglomerate start in the Sooner State?

After compiling information from social media, here's a quick rundown on the locations Okies think would be a perfect fit for 24/7 hot brisket on the board.

Gallery Credit: Kelso

Top 20 Oklahoma Towns Most Hated by Okies

Oklahoma spends quite a bit of time talking about why we don't like everywhere else. Like Sooner fans and people in Southern OK talk trash on Texas, Northern OK hates Kansas, Eastern OK isn't fond of Arkansas, etc... but what about our own state?

I ran across a dead thread on liberal Facebook--AKA--Reddit where people were talking in detail trying to rank the worst cities in the state. While you may not agree politically with your fellow statesmen, you really can't defend a lot of this. Here's the list for least worse to absolute worst as voted by them.