USA TODAY International Edition
Philadelphia to ban minor traffic stops to promote equity
Goal: Ease tension while still focusing on safety
Philadelphia will become the first major U. S. city to ban police from making traffic stops for minor violations such as a broken taillight when Mayor Jim Kenney signs City Council- approved legislation as soon as this week.
Such stops have been encouraged in some police departments as a pretext to search vehicles of drivers suspected of carrying illegal drugs or weapons. But critics of the stops say they prompt a disproportionate number of stops involving drivers of color.
“# DrivingEquality reinforces that public safety can be achieved with other methods than traffic stops,” Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, the bill’s author, tweeted Sunday. “Traffic stops are traumatic for drivers and scary for police officers. Limiting them makes everyone safer and communities stronger.”
The issue resurfaced in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, in April when Daunte Wright, a 20- year- old Black man, was fatally shot during a stop initiated for an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror and expired car registration tags. Officers later tried to arrest Wright for an outstanding warrant and, after a brief struggle, Wright was shot at close range.
A goal of the Driving Equality Bill is to ease tension between police and community members by removing possibly dangerous interactions through minor traffic stops. The law divides motor vehicle code violations into “primary violations” that will continue to draw traffic stops in the interest of public safety and “secondary violations” that won’t.
“These bills end the traffic stops that promote discrimination while keeping the traffic stops that promote public safety,” the City Council said in a statement.
The plan also allows police to redirect time and resources toward safety while removing “negative interactions that widen the divide and perpetuate mistrust,” the statement said.
The legislation will help take the “targets off the backs of Black people,” former Chief Defender Keir BradfordGrey said.