I’m seeing it more and more…because it’s happening more and more. Law enforcement cutting back, in some cases, way back on pretextual traffic stops. Stops for minor infractions like broken tail lights, overly tinted windows, expired tabs, ornaments hanging from rear view mirrors, obscured license plates, hanging license plates, etc., etc. During the height of the pandemic, with cops stretched as thin as Olive Oyl, many departments were almost forced to slash their pretextual stops due to personnel shortages. I said then, and I say now, look for that trend never to go away. And, it hasn’t.

Minneapolis has become the latest large agency to decide it’ll no longer pull over motorists for minor traffic violations, such as expired tabs, or having an air freshener dangling from a rear view mirror, a non-working license plate light. And so on. Police critics, says the Minneapolis Star-Tribune have long argued that, much like stop and frisk policies, pretextual stops in which officers use a minor traffic or equipment violation as legal justification for pulling over someone they wish to investigate, contribute to racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Continue reading Podcast: Pre-textual Stops/Good One’s Aren’t Bulls#*t or Racist →