“The way I think about it, is, say a fireman is told by a supervisor, we need you to put out 15 fires this month. And if you don’t put out 15 fires you’re gonna get penalized for it. So if he doesn’t find 15 fires to put out, is that his fault? It’s not. But the fireman might even go out there and start setting fires, causing fires, just so he’s not penalized or looks bad... And that’s kind of what the police officers are doing.”

Anonymous NYPD officer on the department’s policy of setting arrest and summons quotas. New audio obtained by The Nation reveals that New York City’s police union has cooperated with the NYPD in setting arrest quotas for the department’s officers, a practice that plays a direct role in increasing the number of stop-and-frisk encounters. 

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