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Former Bronx Cop To Sue City After Feeling Weight of Quotas
By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 2, 2011
Modified May 2, 2011
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 2, 2011
Modified May 2, 2011
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After claiming to be fired for failing to meet the demands of "unrealistic and illegal quotas," a former police officer stationed in the Bronx will file a lawsuit again the NYPD for wrongful termination, the Daily News reports. Vanessa Hicks was initially stationed in the 40th precinct, and said she became a cop because she "wanted to do something to help my community, to make a difference." Didn't she know that the definition of "difference" is "20 summonses, one arrest" per month?
After a confrontation with a female officer at the 40th precinct she was transferred to the 42nd, where she claims her superior piled on the quotas and once "demanded she dig his personal car out of the snow." The superior, Sergeant Sean Wick, allegedly followed her around on her beat to find reasons to fire her, and after Hicks filed a complaint, she was quickly suspended and then fired for "insubordination." "I wasn't going to go out there and issue an 80-year-old a summons," she said. And don't even ask her to lift a finger to taser a 72 year old woman.
Hicks's account sounds an awful lot like the Adrian Schoolcraft's and other cops who speak out against the practice of untenable quotas in a Compstat-driven department. When in doubt, wear a wire.
Tagged
Adrian Schoolcraft
bronx
compstat
cops
nypd
quotas
wrongful termination
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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