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these numbers[data] came from the article : [In 2019, 88% of the time L.A. County sheriff’s officers spent on stops was for officer-initiated stops rather than
by rolph 3y ago
these numbers[data] came from the article :
[In 2019, 88% of the time L.A. County sheriff’s officers spent on stops was for officer-initiated stops rather than in response to calls. The overwhelming majority of that time – 79% – was spent on traffic violations. By contrast, just 11% of those hours was spent on stops based on reasonable suspicion of a crime.
In Riverside, about 83% of deputies’ time spent on officer-initiated stops went toward traffic violations, and just 7% on stops based on reasonable suspicion.
Moreover, most of the stops are pointless, other than inconveniencing citizens, or worse – “a routine practice of pretextual stops,” researchers wrote. Roughly three out of every four hours that Sacramento sheriff’s officers spent investigating traffic violations were for stops that ended in warnings, or no action].
[0] The report was published Oct. 25 by advocacy group Catalyst California and the ACLU of Southern California. It relies on county budgets' numbers and new policing data provided under the state’s Racial and Identity Profiling Act, which took effect in 2019.
[1] Report https://catalyst-ca.cdn.prismic.io/catalyst-ca/126c30a8-852c-416a-b8a7-55a90c77a04e_APCA+ACLU+REIMAGINING+COMMUNITY+SAFETY+2022_5.pdf https://catalyst-ca.cdn.prismic.io/catalyst-ca/126c30a8-852c... [PDF]
- throwaway33381 3y agoI feel as though this isn't that surprising when you realize that for most municipalities police forces are revenue generators. Meaning that their main job is in increasing the funding of the precincts they belong to by issuing tickets to traffic violators. You could go a step forward and say they are systemically incentivized to target specific groups due to them being perceived as outsiders but I think a lot of police precincts still enforce broken window theory.
- wahnfrieden 3y agoPretext stops don’t generate ticketing revenue. They’re used in the hopes of finding more serious (by law anyway) crimes once they’re able to get a closer look.
- ceejayoz 3y ago> Pretext stops don’t generate ticketing revenue. Sure they do. They’re still getting the broken taillight fine after the cop searches the car.
- wahnfrieden 3y ago3/4 end with warnings or no action. They’re not pursuing dangerous drivers or fines, they’re pursuing targets they think they can escalate to more serious charges (such as weed possession, in other states anyway)
- nxx788 3y ago[dead]
- tremon 3y agomost of the stops are pointless, other than inconveniencing citizens [..] that ended in warnings Such actions are most emphatically NOT pointless, they are preventative: informing someone that their bad behaviour is noticed is often enough to keep well-meaning citizens on the right side of the law. What's your proposed alternative? That every interaction with the police must result in a fine?
- deepfriedchokes 3y agoIsn’t that really just harassment and intimidation?
- kentt 3y agoTotally depends. It's easy to imagine a situation where responding to a noise complaint would ideally finish with a warning.
- llbeansandrice 3y agoThe data is specifically referring to officer initiated traffic stops. Noise complaints are often reported by neighbors and then responded to. So cops are just stopping drivers and giving them warnings. It sounds like harassment to me.
- rolph 3y agoin the case of a stop that quickly becomes a terry stop. in the case of i stopped you because -rear lights, i see noone else has a notation on your marker, go get it repaired, right now...then your free to go, thats how i generally see a traffic stop actually being a traffic stop.
- rocqua 3y ago"Hey, your tail light is out. Won't give you a ticket this time, but please do get it fixed". Is neither harassement nor intimidation. But it does remind people that these things are noticed, and that failing to fix a taillight might actually earn you a fine.
- bluepizza 3y agoAren't accidents something like the third largest cause of death in the US? Sounds quite logical to me that they'd spend the largest amount of time and resources on that.
- wahnfrieden 3y agoThese are pretext stops. They target people they aim to escalate charges with, not dangerous drivers. That’s why they end with minor warnings.
- the_lego 3y agoHow does the data distinguish between a pretext stop, and a stop for a genuine traffic infraction, like minor speeding or a broken light, that a cop uses their discretion on and issues only a warning? Naively, forcing cops to apply the law even more strictly and always issue fines for minor violations, is not something we want, is it?
- ldoughty 3y agoThe source material makes it sound like the traffic stops are like.... profiling people and wasting their time... The 79% on traffic stops is an officer acting on what they classified to be a traffic violation -- it's not 79% of them are pretextual stops & warnings, and 11% are catching speeders/reckless drivers... it's 79% pulling over speeders/reckless/etc. drivers and 11% "reasonable suspicion of a crime that is not traffic related" If you think about it that way... People CONSANTLY violate traffic laws... So it's not terribly surprising. I certainly hope calls for help are promptly answered, but that source doesn't seem to include data other than the fact that responding to calls for help takes twice as long as a traffic stop for an officer's time. Edit: removed attribution to parent post