Quotas for driving offences revealed

POLICE are under pressure to hand out penalties to drivers in order to meet stringent quotas, a magazine has revealed.

Unions have attacked road safety quotas which were revealed by magazine Auto Plus which published memos sent out to forces.

General secretary for the union Syndicat général police-Force ouvrière (SGP-FO) Nicolas Comte said: “It’s the religion of numbers at all costs. We are on a constant uphill struggle. Even if the number of accidents in a town goes down, services still have to achieve higher results than the year before.”

He added: “The interior minister is closing her eyes and denies the existence of such practices.”

He said it put those on the ground under immense pressure and such quotas meant drivers were penalised who should not really be troubled by police.

One of the circulars showed a police force in the Marne “should this year meet the minimum following objectives”, outlining a list of 16 targets for penalties.

They include 35 fines for not respecting a red light, 110 for an out of date contrôle technique and 66 for not wearing a seat belt.

The memorandum did not explain why the head of the unit set particular targets.

A similar circular was made public in Dunkerque two years ago.

A senior officer in the gendarmerie added: “Heads of the gendarmerie nationale give general guidance but formally ban quotas.

“On the ground, units have a certain independence and some are tempted to become zealous and impose quotas. These initiatives are completely counter-productive.”

Photo:Jonas Roux