Kevin Drum has a thought on traffic stops:
Make traffic into traffic stops and nothing more.
What I mean by this is that too often traffic stops are mere pretexts to look for outstanding warrants or search a car on a fishing expedition. And we know that Black drivers are stopped far more frequently than white drivers. So why not eliminate the pretext? Don’t allow cops to randomly “run plates” looking for an excuse to stop someone, and forbid vehicle searches following a stop. In other words, with only a few clearly defined exceptions the only allowed outcome of a traffic stop is either a ticket or a warning, and that’s it. This is no panacea, but it would reduce the incentive for police officers to pull over Black men just because they seem “suspicious.” …
Why am I so sure this wouldn’t affect the crime rate? I’m not. But the reason I suspect it would have little effect is one all of my readers are aware of: the crime rate in the United States has plummeted over the past three decades thanks to the elimination of gasoline lead. What this means is that a lot of the things we used to think were necessary for reducing crime aren’t true anymore. Teens and 20-somethings are simply less violent and less prone to crime than they used to be, and a lower key form of police interaction won’t change that. We have moved from a country in which crime was high and (arguably) justified tough measures, to one in which crime is low and is likely to stay that way. We desperately need policing that recognizes this.
And don’t permit a weapon to be carried by the officer during the traffic stop unless there’s a clear reason to do so. Philando Castile might be alive today if Officer Yanez hadn’t been carrying a weapon.
