Oh, you read that headline right, folks. California Democrats now want a law that would bar cops from stopping cars and giving traffic tickets to drivers.
The bill (SB50), which just passed the California Senate, is intended to stop cops from ticketing black people, according to the bill’s sponsor.
Senate sponsor, Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), said that he wrote the bill to stop “racial profiling.”
“We have seen far too many times how traffic stops can rapidly escalate and turn deadly. In this day and age, there’s no reason why Californians should be stopped and potentially subjected to brutality or dehumanization because of an expired license plate,” said Senator Bradford in February, according to the California Globe. “This legislation will reduce the potential for more harm to innocent members of the public.”
“SB 50 will especially help to protect Californians of color from unnecessary harm and ensure that law enforcement has more time to focus on community safety by preventing and solving serious crimes. The data clearly backs up the need for this legislation. Black Californians are far more likely to be targeted by police. Passing SB 50 will also help to reduce the risk of harm to law enforcement officers by limiting the need for one of the most dangerous elements of their job.”
The bill would stop police from stopping anyone — not just blacks — just to give them a traffic citation. It would also force cops to try and take some sort of note or photo of the car to then hand the information about a violation over to some “other” government employee who would write some sort of ticket or warning and then send it in the mail.
Per the bill:
This bill would prohibit a peace officer from stopping or detaining the operator of a motor vehicle or bicycle for a low-level infraction, as defined, unless a separate, independent basis for a stop exists. The bill would authorize a peace officer who does not have grounds to stop a vehicle or bicycle, but can determine the identity of the owner, to send a citation or warning letter to the owner.
The bill would authorize local authorities to enforce a violation of the Vehicle Code through government employees who are not peace officers.
So, think about this.
Not only is California cutting off local jurisdictions and counties from enforcing traffic laws, they are also cutting off these governments’ source of revenue. All in order to stop black people from being held liable for the consequences of their actions.
Notice the also have no actual process set up to issue these “letters” to people in the mail, too. Notice how they just say “government employees” will handle traffic violations instead of cops. It’s because they don’t really have any particular “government employee” set up to do this busy work.
And how does this work in court?
How does a citizen “face his accuser” if the cop didn’t write the ticket and if the “government employee” sending the ticket didn’t witness the supposed violation?
I hate traffic tickets as much as anyone else, mind you. But, come on. This is radical nonsense.
And what will result in all this? Traffic laws will be ignored more than ever if there aren’t really any consequences for breaking them.
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