The city of Red Oak has hired a private investigator to determine whether the police chief and the deputy chief set illegal traffic-ticket quotas and threatened officers for not meeting them.

Police Chief Donald "Red" Fullerton and Deputy Chief Stephen Anderson were suspended with pay last week in connection with the investigation.

Red Oak City Council member Ben Goodwyn said police issued almost 1,800 traffic tickets in January, nearly triple the total from January 2006. Mr. Goodwyn said patrol officers told him they were ordered to issue more tickets to make up for a projected budget shortfall.

"They were getting threatened with termination, demotion and not getting raises," Mr. Goodwyn said. "That destroys the morale of the police force."

Mayor Ron Bryce and City Manager Ken Pfeifer said it was too soon to determine whether the allegations were true. Investigator Sherman Baxter, a retired Fort Worth police officer, is scheduled to give his report to the council Wednesday.

"There are people drawing conclusions before the facts are in," Mr. Bryce said. "My gut feeling is a lot of people who get traffic tickets, even if they are guilty, feel they are getting harassed."

Mr. Bryce said the city suspended Chief Fullerton and Chief Anderson last week not for wrongdoing, but to allow for a more objective investigation.

The mayor said the council hired four traffic officers in October, primarily to patrol a five-mile stretch of Interstate 35E that has been plagued with deadly crashes while undergoing construction. The addition of those officers might account for the jump in citations, he said.

Mr. Bryce said Chief Fullerton projected a budget based on each officer issuing 320 tickets a month. Mr. Bryce said budget projections were normal and not illegal. State law prohibits departments from enforcing quotas on citations.

"We need to define whether there's anything illegal or if it's more a natural consequence of [adding officers]," Mr. Bryce said.

Mr. Goodwyn said he has photographs of a bulletin board showing quotas for each officer. He said officers stopped drivers for speeding as little as 5 mph over the limit.

Mr. Goodwyn said he believes the chief ordered the quotas after the department fell behind its projections for $3.4 million in citations. He said one officer issued 559 tickets in January, averaging one every 20 minutes.

"People get used to speed traps, so they slow down," Mr. Goodwyn said. "They kept pushing the pressure because each month he kept falling further and further behind."