Johnson: Republican Representative Jeff Holy spent seven years on patrol, and 15 as a detective. He says the majority of officers today are under immense pressure to perform, and that policing has become a numbers game that can mean big money for departments and cities.
Holy: “If an officer was given a third of each ticket that he wrote, the public outrage would be amazing on that. Why is it when you have a department or municipality that receives one third of each ticket that is written, and that’s just one degree of separation from the officer, why is there not a like outrage?”
Johnson: Holy says quotas take away from the personal integrity of the job of policing. He has introduced a bill that would eliminate revenue driven policing. He says it would allow officers to act with objectivity, neutrality, impartiality, and fairness.
Ruth Johnson, Olympia.