Yesterday, the lawyer for embattled Officer Adrian Schoolcraft released a new audio recording made by a different officer that seemed to leave no doubt that quotas do exist within the NYPD. Today, the NYPD responded to the allegations and the tapes, and were quite unimpressed: "What you’re hearing on the tapes, assuming they’re valid, is just good management," said Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, Paul Browne.

Browne told the Times that the recording does not capture a discussion of quotas, but rather minimum productivity goals: “It’s absurd to think that managers can’t establish goals that require minimum productivity. To suggest otherwise would mean no recourse but to let slackers do nothing.” He told CBS that the Times was “clearly confused and wrong” about the discussions on the tape in their initial article about it yesterday: “If you’re in law enforcement, that means doing things like giving tickets and making arrests. We’re looking for some net goal that indicates you’re doing your job.”

New York Civil Liberties Union Director Donna Lieberman said she has long suspected officers were writing tickets to meet certain numbers, and she calls these recordings the proof: “If its going on with regard to parking tickets, isn’t it also happening, and we know it’s happening with regard to stop and frisks." Currently, NY state has an antiquota statute, which outlaws them for tickets, summonses, arrests and stop, question-and-frisk encounters, and prohibits using quotas as a consideration for punishment. The Village Voice has a nice rundown of all the local coverage and events involving Schoolcraft's allegations and lawsuit, and the subsequent fallout.