Question....
- Thread starter NPT
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I'm not sure there is an actual law to be repealed, more a case of selective enforcement of various statutes historically, probably dating back to Rizzo and beyond...
They have now passed a new law, which basically prohibits stops for minor violations that on the surface do not pose a risk to public safety. The story doesn't list specifics for Philly, but mentions that the Philly statue is influenced by a similar law in Minneapolis that bans stops for pretextual violations defined as "expired tabs, an item dangling from a mirror, or an expired license," .
The Minnie law was a result of the Philando Castile case, where a traffic stop for a busted taillight eventually resulted in the officer shooting Castile 7 times. Sandra Bland died in a Texas jail (reportedly by suicide) after being arrested over a minor traffic violation, and the cop was found to have violated department policies. He was eventually fired after it was determined he had perjured himself, but still a young woman ended up dead after being arrested for a minor traffic violation...
Moronic on multiple levels.
Because obeying the traffic laws and keeping your car maintained is too hard. It's asking too much.
Here in Indianapolis a citizen violating a traffic law and getting a ticket would be a rare event.
Take speeding as an example. Indianapolis has made driving into our downtown from the suburbs like driving in the Indianapolis 500. Anyone driving the legal speed limit is a traffic hazard and should be disqualified.
I suspect we keep the laws on the books as some drivers do go beyond the somewhat dangerous and into the realm of completely suicidal, A ticket could be issued if one of our traffic officers happens to observe the violation and risks his own life by chasing him down.
P.S. As a law abiding senior citizen I get little respect from my wife when it comes to my driving. I often hear, "Can you keep up with the traffic?".
There are over 5 million car crashes a year. This is the liberal version of defunding the police at the traffic stop level. It's stupid. If systemic racism in traffic is the issue there are ways to address it without giving people a free ride. Again 5 million crashes a year but of course cosmic will point to the handful of unfortunate events as cause for change. It's in keeping with the nonsense around cops killing unarmed blacks evidencing systemic racism when the data indicates otherwise.
Defund the police idiocy. We've seen how that's working. This will be more of the same and in a year we'll see a like correction.
Here in Indy, we have continually increased our public safety money as our murder rate continually rises under both Democratic and Republican mayors. Our murder rate per capita exceeds Chicago.
The one area of reduction has been traffic patrolmen,
So in our case, traffic enforcement has taken a backseat to violent crime, not an effort to reduce funds going to the police, We are serious about funding law enforcement as proven by having six police enforcement officers who make more than our mayor.
Community policing, properly implemented, works. Where you see the worst crime are burned out areas where there's just too much land to cover. Our police dept has something like 150 vacancies. They can't find cops
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Bigot say what? And that's exactly what it's tantamount to.
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MM66, think you and I agree that crime is a local issue,
It is complicated by the fact each city and neighborhood presents different challenges.
Heck, within a neighborhood, it can be a block by block, house by house, family by family issue.
100 percent. The DOJ's report on Ferguson was illuminating in many ways: re the importance of cops looking like the community they police, and the disparate impact of traffic enforcement and traffic court policies on people of color, and poor people. Not enforcing traffic laws is no different than defunding police. It's a silly, virtue-signaling approach when there are real things that can be done to help while still enforcing important safety laws. The traffic laws are for our own protection and benefit.
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I took my Boo (a boo once removed ago) to get her locks right for an upcoming concert at United Center, The stylist, located in approximately Kenwood area, and Boo decided a few drops of the grape would enhance the experience. So they sent me to Kenwood Liqours on Stony Island (unfortunately lost it‘s life in the GF aftermath) to score some wine. In the return trip , CPD pulled m over on the pretense that I ran a stop sign. Didn‘t happen. I was rolling in an Audi A5 with Wisconsin plates. They wrote me up a ticket and a court date. Searched the Audi very thoroughly. My Boo said I was racially profiled as a white boy mule pulling drugs back up into Wisconsin. I showed for court date and police officer did not show ..so no argument. I got to feeling my blood and so I was complaining to the Judge about how this works …she advised me to shut my trap and go back to Wisconsin.
Okay that makes sense now that you mention it. I guess the state could do like the federal government does and withhold money from the city if they aren't gonna enforce the laws. I remember when the speed limit was 55 on the interstate and the federal government threatened to withhold money from one state if they didn't enforce it so they started enforcing it (don't remember the details) but it was only like a $1 fine and no points (or something like that).
For the vast majority of the country the goal of traffic stops has nothing to do with racial profiling or racism. The goal is to raise revenue for municipalities. That is a worthy criticism. The beneficial byproduct is safety, tracking the endless stolen cars, on and on.
If racial profiling is an issue there are countless remedies for same short of not enforcing laws. My guess is the same people complaining about being profiled had a broken light or expired tags. Go to a black community the docket is all black. Go to a white community the docket is all white. The City sees green. Not enforcing laws sends the message people don't need to worry about being pulled over - no incentive to get cars fixed, carry insurance, worry about stolen tags, worry about being pulled over because they are wanted ....
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I’ve always had the impression that most traffic stops for minor offenses was to check for outstanding warrants. Those that end up in news-making violence always seem to have an outstanding warrant issue.
That's how people with warrants get picked up. Traffic stops. Unless you did something really bad cops aren't knocking on your door. They catch you with a traffic stop. Racial profiling in traffic certainly exists, but there are ways to remedy what's broken in the system without going nuclear and deciding we're not going to enforce laws anymore. And the idea of we'll mail you the citation is comical and evinces people who don't know what they are talking about. That address in the system isn't within the last five places the offender stayed. Then what happens when they don't show up because they never got the citation in the mail? A warrant? Then here we are again with the spiral of FTA, fees, bonds, warrants, skipping court.
There are ways to fix the system, and I agree it needs fixing - like defunding the police this ain't it.
About 10 years ago, my wife was driving my vehicle down 37 in Bloomington. She was pulled over by BPD. The cop came to the window, quickly surveyed the inside and said, where is Joe_hoopsier? The wife said I wasn't in the car and was xxxx. They had ran the license plate, it came back in my name, I had a failure to appear warrant that I had no clue about, for an old medical bill that I didn't know about that had went to collections. They let her leave and said that she had done nothing wrong.
As I recall it was a <$600 medical bill from 5-6 years before this event. Where is the probable cause for the search? I was steamed to say the least and yes I paid the bill.
That doesn't make sense, Joe. You don't get a warrant for a medical bill. It's civil not crim. You don't have to appear on a collection case. You'd just get defaulted. A cop wouldn't have that info
Well obviously I am not a lawyer, but that is what they told her and when I started digging, I found I had that bill and I paid it. I've never had another issue since. So I dunno?
Well, I do my best to support cops when its matters, BUT ...
1. They lie to create probable cause a LOT, and judges look the other way ...
and
2. According to the prettiest girl I ever dated before meeting my bride, (who beats all), they pull over pretty girls a LOT. She suffered ... and I comforted her. A lot.
These 2 can account for this stop, but so would JoeHoopsier's general reputation among police as a criminal who must be stopped at costs.
Yeah that's a good point. They spotted a Joe Hoopsier car and knew it was likely running contraband. Had to make something up.
You just may be on to something with that last one. I did have a few words with a couple different BPD officers, back in my Firehouse days. County and State, we were all buddies, but not BPD at all!
Sorry Joe, the story is implausible. Collection cases are civil in nature. Is it possible that you had an outstanding warrant for groping a nurse?
You know what.. I bet those freakin cops just wanted to make sure the wife knew about it too. Not I am pissed.
All I know is, as I said above, that is what the cops told her, I researched and found that there was a bill and the collection company had took it to court and I had not known about or showed up for the hearing. Honest, I am not making this up.
My guess is, as Floor said, the cops lied and the medical bill thing was just a coincidence. You don't get a warrant for not showing on a collection case; and a cop would never be notified.
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