Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed suit against Moscow Mills for allegedly imposing a ticket quota on the city's police officers. The practice, which was exposed by a whistleblower, is a violation of Senate Bill 5, which outlawed what Schmitt calls the practice of taxation by citation.
The lawsuit, according to a release from the Attorney General’s office, alleges that Terry Foster, chief police in Moscow Mills, told officers within his department to issue a certain number of citations and hired a “traffic enforcement officer” to write roughly 160 per month in order to secure $160,000 in court citation revenue per year. The amount from fines was included as a line item in the city’s 2021 budget.
“Chief of Police Terry Foster, on behalf of the City of Moscow Mills, has given instructions to the traffic enforcement officer to write at least 10 citations per day, while remaining officers have been given instructions to write a minimum of five citations per month," the lawsuit states.
“Missourians should not be treated as cash cows to fill municipal coffers," Schmitt said in the release. "When I was in the State Senate, I led efforts to pass Senate Bill 5 to ensure that citizens are not being treated as ATMs and to end the practice of taxation by citation."
As Missouri’s attorney general, Schmitt said he is entrusted with enforcing laws.
“Requiring the brave men and women of law enforcement to focus on driving municipal revenue rather than public safety is against the law," he said.
The whistleblower is a former police department employee familiar with the law enforcement agency’s internal operations. The individual submitted credible information to the attorney general's office after being fired from his departmental job after informing the mayor’s office of the practice, according to the suit.
The lawsuit alleges Foster terminated an officer employed by the Moscow Mills Police Department after the ticket quota scheme had been brought to the attention of the mayor of Moscow Mills: “On information and belief, when the chief of police learned that this officer met with the mayor, he responded, ‘One way or another, [this officer] is [explicative] gone,’” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit alleges that Foster discussed the implications of violating the law relating to traffic ticket quotas with the City of Moscow Mills and was reassured that there “will be no employment repercussions for him if he is found to have violated such laws.”
Foster, who has been with the department for 14 years, defended his service.
“The future of the Moscow Mills Police Department is bright with current and future projects in various stages of development or planning,” he said in a general statement on the Moscow Mills website. “During these difficult economic times, we constantly evaluate our business model so we can take the best practice approaches in the response to calls for service, crime prevention and quality of life issues facing our residents.”
The attorney general’s office is asking for a preliminary and permanent injunction prohibiting the City of Moscow Mills from enforcing a traffic ticket quota scheme, according to the attorney general’s website.
Moscow Mills Mayor Patrick Flannigan said in an email that he couldn't comment on the lawsuit.
"Under the advice of legal counsel, I cannot comment on an active investigation. Once the city has completed the investigation I will release a press release with comments at that time," he wrote.