DECATUR, Ga. -- CBS 46 News has learned that the DeKalb County Police Department may have instituted a quota system.

Sources tell CBS 46 that officers are being ordered to make a certain number of arrests, and write a certain number of tickets each month.

Regardless, the line to get into DeKalb’s traffic court is growing and may continue to grow if Police Chief Terrell Bolton has anything to do with it.

CBS 46 News has learned that under the Guided Achievement Plan, Bolton is ordering his officers to write more tickets and arrest more people because they are well behind the number of arrests and tickets compared to 2006.

“This is a ripoff, stealing from the poorest of the poor,” said one driver, when told about the plan.

“You keep saying quota, but there is no quota,” said police spokesperson Mekka Parish.

Parish insisted Wednesday that officers are not required to make a certain number of arrests.

“What we are focused on is reducing crime in DeKalb County,” Parish said.

But CBS 46 News has learned officers are being told in roll call before hitting the streets that they must hit certain numbers: 65 tickets a month and 25 arrests.

Another source said that the special operation officers, the ones who shoot radar, must write more than 150 tickets a month and make approximately 11 arrests.

Quotas have troubled DeKalb County officers for years.

Malik Douglas, a former DeKalb police officer and head of the police union, said the quota is in writing.

“There's a memo out there. Several officers have told me there's a memo,” Douglas said.

Douglas said union attorneys will be investigating the new policy.

The attorney general's office told CBS 46 News that quotas are legal, but that doesn't mean they're fair.