At least five police officers in Monroe, Louisiana have been disciplined for not writing a sufficient number of traffic tickets. These officers were told they could not work a second job while off-duty to help make ends meet. Because this punishment is outside of the normal disciplinary process, the officers have no right to appeal the decision.

"They felt (ticket quotas) may have been the basis for the actions," Monroe Police Union President Mark Huggins told the News-Star newspaper.

Huggins met yesterday with Mayor Jamie Mayo to discuss the quota issue, but Police Chief Ron Schleuter denied the accusation and said there is no explicit, written number of tickets that must be issued.

"They are required to show activities doing traffic enforcement," Chief Schleuter told the News-Star. "There is not a quota on tickets."

The city makes about $563,000 from citations each year.