Quota? FHP troopers told to write 2 tickets an hour

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) A top official with the Florida Highway Patrol has told troopers they aren’t writing enough speeding tickets.

Maj. Mark Welch of Troop H in Tallahassee told troopers under his command via email that “the patrol wants to see two citations each hour,” The Tampa Bay Times reports. Troop H covers the Florida Panhandle.

“This is not a quota; it is what we are asking you to do to support this important initiative,” Welch wrote.

The initiative is SOAR – Statewide Overtime Action Response – and it allows troopers to make extra money working the roads in an effort to deter speeders.

North Florida troopers are writing an average of 1.3 tickets per hour in the SOAR program, a rate that Welch says is not good enough.

Welch noted the 5 percent pay raise the Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott recently gave troopers, noting that it “has also increased your overtime rate.”

State figures show troopers wrote 934,965 citations in 2014 compared to 749,241 last year.