Ohio lawmakers have passed legislation prohibiting law enforcement agencies in the Buckeye State from mandating ticket quotas.
The Ohio House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 114, which is similar to House Bill 131, another measure that lawmakers considered.
The measure, which will be sent to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature, bars law enforcement officials and agencies from implementing plans that use quotas for evaluating, promoting, compensating, transferring, or disciplining an officer. It also prohibits requiring or suggesting that an officer is expected to meet a quota and offering a benefit to an officer based on the officer’s quota.
“Our law enforcement professionals are not revenue generators. This legislation prohibits them from being used as such,” state Rep. Kevin Miller, R-Newark, said in a release.
If signed into law, the measure would also mandate the attorney general to develop a form that police officers can use to report violations of the new prohibition. The state’s top law enforcement officer would be empowered to investigate alleged violations and issue cease-and-desist orders for any violations.
It also allows police officers to decide whether to submit the report anonymously or disclose their identity.
“We are going to eliminate these quotas because our police officers are here to protect and serve and not be ticket-writing machines,” WLWT-TV said state Rep. Cindy Abrams, R-Harrison, chair of the Ohio House Public Safety Committee.
While much of the response to the measure has favored the quota ban, Mike Crispen, president of the Central Ohio Chiefs Association, signaled his opposition.
“When crime is rising and repeat offenders are cycling through the system, the last thing Ohio needs is a law that makes it harder for officers to act,” WTRF-TV quoted Crispen as saying.
In prepared sponsor testimony to the House Public Safety Committee, state Sen. Tom Patton, R-Strongsville, said the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association and the Fraternal Order of Police brought the “issue of ticket and arrest quotas” to his attention “in response to the quota mandates of a few bad actors.”
“To be clear, we very much want our traffic laws monitored appropriately. This would not prohibit police chiefs from assigning officers to ‘traffic units’ to monitor traffic safety,” Patton said in his prepared testimony.
“This only prohibits using ticket quotas as the basis for evaluation or compensation,” the lawmaker added. “Our law enforcement officers are responsible for keeping us safe, and they should not be saddled with the unreasonable burden of generating revenue for bureaucracies through ticket quotas.”
In prepared testimony to the House Public Safety Committee, Robert Butler, president of the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, said quotas “erode public trust by creating an environment where officers are pressured to issue citations or make arrests not based on the merits of each situation, but to meet arbitrary numbers.”
“Quotas are a relic of outdated leadership practices, often used by those who relied on simplistic metrics rather than genuine leadership,” Butler told lawmakers. “They represent a lazy approach to management, where leaders focus on easy-to-track numbers instead of truly understanding and guiding their officers.
“In contrast, proactive and caring leadership involves evaluating officers based on the quality and impact of their interactions, not just the quantity,” Butler added. “By comprehensively assessing stops or interactions, we can ensure that officers are performing effectively and ethically, without the pressure of meeting meaningless numerical targets. Police Chiefs in 2025 have evolved beyond the lazy method of quotas, and it is time for our policies to reflect this evolution.”
