A Madison Township, Ohio police officer whose record of busting real criminals is unbeaten found himself reprimanded for failing to focus on writing traffic tickets. The Columbus Dispatch reports that Officer Ken Braden only wrote 85 tickets last year when his most prolific fellow officer wrote 388 while arresting fewer criminals. For that, Police Chief Greg Ryan punished Braden.

"He gets paid as much as the other officers," Ryan told the Dispatch. "He should do as much work as the other officers."

Ryan boasts that in 2006 his twelve patrol officers wrote 1935 tickets in the small Columbus suburb. The department also seized 194 cars, selling 41 of them for profit. These numbers had been boosted by a 2005 edict mandating officers meet a specific ticket quota.

"Effective immediately, all uniformed patrol officers are expected, as a minimum level of self-initiated activity, to issue one traffic citation, one traffic warning, and complete five park & walk business checks/residential vacation checks each shift worked," Ryan's memorandum stated.

The local Fraternal Order of Police union is defending Braden in a complaint against the department.