From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Megan Cassidy, Susie Neilson
Oct. 7, 2022
Updated: Oct. 18, 2022 3:21 p.m.To fight racial profiling, SF may limit when police can stop drivers.
Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle
San Francisco is weighing whether to bar officers from stopping drivers for a variety of low-level violations, a move that would fundamentally shift policing — if it survives a bitter debate now playing out mostly behind the scenes in a city divided over public safety issues.
Under a proposed policy designed to reduce racial profiling, city police officers could no longer pull over motorists for infractions including throwing trash from a window, driving without registration tags, sleeping in a vehicle, failing to signal a turn or stopping in a no-parking zone.
From CCX Media:
CHANGES TO TRAFFIC STOP, SEARCH POLICIES OUTLINED IN BROOKLYN CENTER
Brooklyn Center is the Minneapolis suburb where the woman cop tried to taze a black criminal resisting arrest but somehow shot him with her pistol.
5:37 PM | Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Brooklyn Center City Council members got their first look at proposed changes to traffic stop and consent search policies at a council meeting on Monday night.
John Solomon, a member of the Community Safety and Violence Prevention Implementation Committee, presented the changes to the council.
“When I talk about why the policy change in Brooklyn Center is important, we want to look at how excessive stops for minor equipment issues erode community trust in law enforcement,” said Solomon. “That’s something we’ve had to work on pretty heavily here.”
Solomon said stopping vehicles for something like a broken tail light could hurt people financially and or result in an incident like the one where Daunte Wright died.
Vehicle Stop Policy Recommendations:
Vehicles would no longer be stopped solely for the following violations:
- Invalid or expired registration
- No functioning license plate light
- No operative muffler
- Exceeding vehicle noise rules of the Pollution Control Agency
- Cracked or discolored windshield or rearview mirror decorations
- Inoperative windshield wipers
- Excessive window tinting
- Improperly displayed license plate or permit sticker
- Improper operational condition
- Broken or improperly used headlights, tail lights, or turn signals
