NYPD's Stop-and-Frisk Defense: We're Too Lazy

New York police have been accused of stopping people simply to fill quotas—but that's silly, officers say: They're far too lazy for that kind of effort. Some 10% of cops "are complete malcontents that will do as little as possible no matter how well you treat them," says a former top officer. They won't work hard unless they're getting paid overtime, he tells the court in the department's stop-and-frisk trial; that's when tickets get written up.

"I think we’re charged with trying to get the police officers to work, do the things that they’re getting paid for," says a deputy commissioner. A deputy inspector, meanwhile, went so far as to play a secret tape to the court of a sergeant chastising his team for lack of effort, the New York Times reports. The trial has examined a police policy that says, "Department managers can and must set performance goals." Asked how he interpreted the policy, one officer replied: "It says, quota, quota, quota, quota, and quota." Click for the full piece. (More police stories.)