Despite repeated denials by Massachusetts State Police that any quota system exists, federal prosecutors investigating overtime abuses at the agency say troopers from a troubled State Police unit were expected to issue at least eight citations during their shifts, the Boston Globe reports. The allegation emerged in a sentencing memo for former trooper Eric Chin, who pleaded guilty late last year to embezzlement in a probe of an overtime program that dozens of troopers allegedly abused to collect fraudulent payments.
“Any failure to issue the required number of citations had to be explained to supervisors and command staff,” prosecutors wrote in a new court filing included in the ongoing overtime case. “Repeated failures to meet this quota often resulted in a trooper being blocked from receiving such overtime opportunities.” Criminal justice and legal experts told the Globe that quotas are unconstitutional in Massachusetts, citing a landmark 2005 state appellate court decision regarding Newton police. The trooper unit under investigation, which patrolled the state’s turnpike, was disbanded last year and its troopers were folded into other units. The overtime program, which dates back to at least 2012, was intended to reduce accidents by targeting aggressive or speedy drivers. It was eliminated in the wake of the scandal.