By The Vanguard Staff
SACRAMENTO, CA – Traffic interactions with law enforcement—studies of which have shown people of color are targeted more frequently than others for traffic stops, charge civil liberties groups—will theoretically be reduced with one new law that takes effect in California Jan. 1, 2024
RELATED VANGUARD STORY: https://davisvanguard.org/2023/12/report-sacramento-sheriffs-office-disproportionately-stops-black-drivers-for-traffic-violations/
According to a story on Fox40 Sacramento, “Potentially millions of California drivers have been asked the same simple question by an officer after being pulled over: ‘Do you know why I pulled you over?’”
Starting Jan. 1, 2024, officers cannot start the interaction with that question and instead must state the purpose of the traffic stop before asking any other questions. The same goes for any stops conducted on a pedestrian, said Fox40.
Fox40 explained the law “was created to reduce ‘pretextual stops,’ in which an officer stops a vehicle or pedestrian for something minor with the intent of searching the driver and vehicle to determine if a larger crime is evident, such as expired paperwork or possession of certain items.”
The law was also created to help de-escalate interactions between police and civilians, author and Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), said in a legislative committee hearing, noting the bill was created to “promote equity and accountability in communities…”
The committee analysis says “pedestrians, users of public transportation, and vehicular occupants who have been stopped, searched, interrogated, and subjected to a property seizure by a peace officer for no reason other than the color of their skin, national origin, religion, gender identity or expression, housing status, sexual orientation, or mental or physical disability are the victims of discriminatory practices.”
The measure “requires a peace officer making a traffic or pedestrian stop, before engaging in questioning related to a criminal investigation or traffic violation, to state the reason for the stop, unless the officer reasonably believes that withholding the reason for the stop is necessary to protect life or property from imminent threat.”
This bill also requires the officer to document the reason for the stop on any citation or police report resulting from the stop and requires “law enforcement agencies to monitor the compliance of the law and to include in reports the reasons for all stops that are conducted.”
The legislation was supported by California Public Defenders Association; Initiate Justice; National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter; Oakland Privacy and The Young Women’s Freedom Center.
It was opposed by California State Sheriffs’ Association and California Police Chiefs Association.
