The New York Police Department (NYPD) and city lawyers are accused of feverishly working together to try and cover up a massive ticket writing scheme that has resulted in at least 850,000 "bogus summonses" being issued.

The New York Daily News reported the operation is alleged to be part of a quota system for which the city now faces a class-action lawsuit. The newspaper adds attorneys for the city have now "failed to turn over even one email from the files of former Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly or former Chief of Department Joseph Esposito regarding summons activity over the last eight years," according to documents submitted in Manhattan Federal Court by attorney Elinor Sutton that seek sanctions against the city.

City officials also claimed they were unable to find any communications about summonses in the files of three other, presumably former, top members of the department.

In a 15-page letter, Sutton also indicated city officials are suspected of regularly destroying evidence to keep their quota scheme afloat. In one example, Lt. Stevelle Brown of the 105th Precinct in Queens is alleged to have denied an officer time off for failing to meet a standard for traffic summonses.

Other potential evidence, such as CompStat figures, actual crime statistics and written feedback provided by supervisors, is also alleged to be regularly shredded. In addition, city lawyers reportedly didn't advise NYPD brass to begin preserving such related communication until 2013 -- some three years after the current, ongoing suit was filed.

In a recent response filed by the city, attorney Qiana Smith-Williams countered the allegations of evidence destruction was "short on meritorious claims." She also stressed the two sides had not "exhausted the possibility of a settlement."

Judge Robert Sweet is expected to hear the case sometime early next year, with the possibility of the NYPD being forced to overhaul the entire system it now uses for issuing summonses should they lose at trial.

The lead plaintiff in the case is Sharif Stinson. Back in 2010, he was slapped with a pair of summonses after leaving his aunt's Bronx apartment that were later dismissed by a judge for legal insufficiency. The class includes anyone who has been issued a criminal court summons since 2007 that was later dismissed by a judge for legal insufficiency.

Earlier this year, a John Jay College Criminal Justice study found over a 10-year period, beginning in 2003, 18 percent of all summonses were dismissed by a judge on those grounds.

Meanwhile, the city council is rumored to be considering a plan that would decriminalize minor offenses that summonses are now written for such as public urination and open container and instead make them civil offenses.