Wayne Olson, founding partner of Fort Worth-based firm Taylor, Olson, Adkins, Sralla, & Elam, conducted the investigation. After interviewing seven officers within the department and reviewing years of officer performance data, Olson concluded that the evidence does not support claims of an illegal activity.
“I had no agenda here; I don't know anybody in the city of Richardson,” Olson said. “I have no leanings toward the police department or toward the complainant in this case.”
While no legal violations were found, Olson told council that some officers were concerned by expectations from superiors during biweekly performance reviews to meet a certain “average number” of traffic citations and arrests.
Officer Kayla Walker first spoke about the alleged quota during the public comment section of the April 19 council meeting. She said the department had been “illegally using quotas to evaluate and discipline officers” for the entirety of her 13-year tenure.
“Patrol officers are threatened with punishment for not writing enough tickets, arresting enough people and/or making enough citizen contacts,” she said during the April 19 meeting, noting that state law prohibits the use of ticket quotas.
Olson said he tried several times to speak with Walker about the allegations. Richardson Police Department officials said no action would be taken against Walker for her complaints.
In response to the investigation, RPD's Chief Gary Tittle announced various changes to the department’s policies in hopes of creating consistent guidelines and expectations for officers, including the standardization of productivity reports so that all patrol officers are evaluated using the same metrics.
“My goal is to make sure that the Richardson Police Department serves our community in a fair and equal way with professionalism and integrity, and I will stand for nothing less,” he said. “After having reviewed the investigation, this report provides us an opportunity to do things better.”
Mayor Paul Voelker said the investigative report includes legal analysis but not legal findings.
“These are very serious allegations; they carry significant consequences,” Voelker said. “I believe at the heart of this is how does a city monitor the performance and measure the productivity of officers working for the city of Richardson.”
The entire report can be viewed at www.cor.net/2021PDreport.
