BRONX COP SUES THE NYPD OVER ARREST QUOTAS!

A whistle-blowing cop says arrest quotas in one Bronx precinct have the Finest there so angry that the locker room has to be guarded "around the clock" to prevent vandalism.

In a civil-rights suit filed this morning, veteran cop Craig Matthews says the quota system at the 42nd Precinct "has pitted police officers against each other, straining professional relationships and diverting resources away from law enforcement activities."

He says cops who "comply" with the program "have had their precinct lockers dislodged and overturned, with the lockers sometimes being placed in the shower or their locks being plastered shut."

"This practice of 'locker flipping' has escalated to the point where on-duty police officers are now assigned to guard the precinct's locker room around the clock," court papers say.

Matthews, a 14-year veteran, made the stunning revelation in a Manhattan federal court filing that charges he's "been subjected to a campaign of retaliation and harassment" for telling top brass at the precinct about the "highly developed quota system" employed by "mid-level supervisors" there.

The suit -- which targets the city, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, precinct commander Deputy Inspector Jon Bloch and Lt. Mark Sedran -- seeks a court order that they "cease all actions in retaliation for (Matthews') protected speech," plus unspecified damages.

Matthews says supervisors use color-coded computer reports to track each officer's amount of arrests, summonses and highly controversial "stop-and-frisks" -- which one supervisor allegedly described as "worth their weight in gold."

"Current reports use black ink to identify officers who are meeting quotas, silver ink to identify officers who are meeting only some quotas and red ink to identify officers who are not meeting quotas," according to court papers.

Matthews says cops "are constantly pressured to meet the quotas, and those who do not are subject to punishment including undesirable assignments, the loss of overtime, denial of leave, separation from partners and poor evaluations."

The suit says Matthews notified his commanding officers about the quota program -- which began in 2008 -- "on at least four occasions."

After his first three complaints, in 2009, then-precinct commander Captain Timothy Bugge allegedly told Matthews that he had spoken to Sedran, who is Matthews' platoon commander, "and that the situation was handled."

"In fact, the quota system continued, with Lt. Sedran saying in a roll call that he would use it secretly," court papers charge.

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