ilovemytvalot t1_j68ioon wrote
Reply to comment by WPackN2 in After viewing the Tyre Nichols murder videos, are there any police reform protests happening in New Jersey this weekend? by billmurrayspokenword
https://www.npr.org/2021/11/08/1052957246/why-philadelphia-has-banned-low-level-traffic-stops
Philadelphia has already implemented the Driving Equity Act, which should be nationwide.
Copied highlight from the article:
The new legislation bans stops for:
Driving with a single broken brake light
Driving with a single headlight
Having a registration plate that's not clearly displayed, fastened, or visible
Driving without an inspection or emissions sticker
Bumper issues
Minor obstructions (like something hanging from a rearview mirror)
Driving without vehicle registration within 60 days of the observed infraction
While these low-level offenses will no longer lead to interactions between police and drivers, such infractions will still result in a ticket that is either left on the driver's windshield or mailed.
Marlshine t1_j6by988 wrote
I drive through Philly and always have. Driving in certain areas there has gotten more dangerous as people think they can get away with more, and the cops seem to be absent.
I'm all for the cops to stop being revenue generators, but lax enforcement is happening all around and leading to other issues.
I watched a Dodge Journey with no visible tags clip another car while changing lanes last month, smashing the rear bumper of the other vehicle into the tire so they couldn't drive safely. Then the Journey took off. I have a dashcam and pulled over with the other car. Unable to see any ID on the vehicle, police seemed to not really care and said "we can't do anything as there's no registration visible. since we don't really enforce that anymore, it's becoming a problem for these hit and runs. Take it up with the city".
WPackN2 t1_j69rbhr wrote
It still doesn't solve the problem of them sitting and watching for those infractions. Philly just eliminated the discretion officers can use to decide on it. There is no incentive for the cops to not ticket these kind of offenses, no need to interact, just leave the ticket.
StrategicBlenderBall t1_j6hnew0 wrote
Wow, that’s stupid. “There’s been a lot of violence against brown people, so let’s just stop enforcing vehicle safety standards as an olive branch!” Talk about not getting anything done.
ilovemytvalot t1_j6p7r5f wrote
First, no one is saying to stop enforcing vehicle safety standards. We just do not need cops enforcing non-violent scenarios when we can easily have cameras or drones in place to catch vehicle violations. I would even support reallocating police funds to traffic enforcement agencies so that they can expand and acquire the technology and support to do their jobs.
Second, we should limit the situations where we use cops since they have been proven time and time again that THEY ARE RACIST. They use traffic violations as a cover to act on racial profiling. Studies show that black or hispanics are more likely to be pulled over and that they are more likely to be ticketed than white drivers. Below are two links that show the data on this issue:
https://crimeandjusticeresearchalliance.org/rsrch/racial-disparities-in-traffic-ticketing/
https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/1/4/pgac144/6652221
If anyone is interested in learning and understanding the numbers that show police brutality is an epidemic, I highly recommend checking out and even donating to
StrategicBlenderBall t1_j6p99fk wrote
Isn’t it more reasonable to say that Black and Hispanic people are more likely to drive vehicles under disrepair because they are statistically poorer than non Black and Hispanic people? Maybe we should have some sort of agency that inspects vehicles for safety violations? Like a motor vehicle agency? They could even do those inspections on an annual basis!
Oh wait, most state motor vehicle agencies no longer do safety inspections because… reasons?
https://haynes.com/en-us/tips-tutorials/what-know-about-vehicle-inspections-all-50-states
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