Thirty Los Angeles Police Department officers from the Devonshire station last week filed an official grievance with the police union over ticket quotas. The department had issued 502,499 traffic citations last year, but this year's numbers have been coming up about 20,000 tickets short and officials have been increasing pressure to boost numbers.

Police Protective League lawyer Hank Hernandez told the Los Angeles Times that the officers were told during roll call, "Ticket a day keeps the sergeant away." Thirty officers were also notified in writing that they were not issuing a sufficient number of citations, which could affect their pay and promotion opportunities.

"It's an attempt to coerce and threaten officers to get them to write more tickets," Hernandez explained.

Police officials denied the existence of a ticket quota.