The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved a plan to prevent police officers from conducting traffic stops to arrest suspected criminals while driving on city streets.
The City Council’s 13-0 vote marked the start of an information-gathering project on the extent to which the city can prevent police officers from enforcing state traffic laws.
In particular, the City Council wants to put a stop to “pretext” traffic stops, where police stop suspected criminals for less serious traffic violations. Many of these pretext stops have been used to recover illegal firearms in the city.
The city council said it would create new, unarmed agents to stop and ticket drivers to maintain a culture of trust in public institutions. These officers would be tasked with finding ways to prevent the city’s poorest people from facing fines and jail time for car-related accidents.
“Implementing unarmed traffic responses will reduce violent incidents and increase trust in public institutions,” said City Council Member Eunises Hernandez.
Since 2020, some City Council members have discussed moving police away from traffic enforcement and other traditional roles, many of them citing a 2019 study of LAPD policing that showed relatively few stops led to the discovery of illegal firearms and more serious crimes.
In 2022, the police department adopted stricter new rules regarding pretextual stops, requiring a higher standard of suspicion by officers and the production of certain documentation before and after a stop.
“If implemented properly, these are valuable tools. If implemented improperly, it puts public trust at risk, so I disagree with that,” Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi said.
These restrictions have led to a decline in the number of traffic enforcement incidents.
Choi said officers have made fewer stops but found more illegal firearms since the restrictions were introduced in 2022, supporting the idea that fewer stops would make interventions more effective.
“Last year was one of our highest years for the number of guns recovered and seized, so I would say that policy did not impede that effort,” Choi said.
Some on the council argue that the success rate of pretextual suspensions is not important.
“We know how many thieves and many other criminals are arrested during traffic enforcement,” said City Councilman Marquise Harris-Dawson, “but that doesn’t mean it’s a fair and reasonable policy.”
Council’s vote on Wednesday directs various agencies, departments and officials to report back in the coming months on how this all works.