MARSHFIELD, Mo. — Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has announced that the state is suing the city of Marshfield for alleged violations of state laws regarding traffic ticket quotas.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday, alleges that Marshfield Police Chief Doug Fannen gave department employees instruction to write sixteen citations per month and informed those officers that their performance evaluations would reflect whether the officer has issued those citations. Additionally, the lawsuit also includes minutes from a Marshfield board of aldermen meeting showing the city’s decision to hire a “traffic enforcement officer” within the Marshfield Police Department.
Lastly, the lawsuit alleges an officer employed by the Marshfield Police Department confronted the police chief earlier this year and stated that traffic ticket quotas are illegal under Missouri law. The officer later resigned after reportedly receiving disparate treatment from the chief after raising concerns about the traffic ticket quota. The lawsuit also alleges someone in the department approached the Webster County Prosecuting Attorney to discuss pursuing a felony charge against the resigned officer for an unrelated issue, and that the chief of police allegedly asked an officer to relay a message to the resigned officer that the chief would pursue a felony charge against that officer for that unrelated issue if he talked to the Attorney General’s Office about the alleged quota.
The lawsuit notes the city of Marshfield’s traffic stop statistics totaled 383 in 2016, 646 in 2017 and just under 1400 in 2018, with highway citations going up from 0 in 2016 to 241 in 2018.
