The Tennessee Senate has passed a bill that would essentially overturn Memphis' ban on pretextual traffic stops, with the aim of restoring law and order in the community. The bill, which had already passed in the state House, would block a Memphis City Council ordinance that banned such stops. While the bill's sponsors argue that it's about enforcing existing state laws and improving public safety, Democrats view it as Republican overreach that disregards local government decisions. The family of Tyre Nichols, whose death led to the ordinance, expressed deep disappointment with the bill's passage and emphasized the need for justice regarding routine traffic stops.
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has been criticized for using traffic stops to investigate motorists for more serious crimes, such as drug offenses, in San Francisco. Critics argue that the practice, which the city is moving away from, leads to racial profiling and does not solve the drug crisis. However, the CHP's efforts have resulted in more drug arrests, with 12 narcotics arrests presented to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office in May. The CHP claims that its patrols are not practicing pretextual stops, but rather making traffic stops when there is reasonable suspicion or probable cause of a traffic violation.
The Memphis City Council has unanimously passed an ordinance that ends pretextual police stops, which allow police to use minor traffic infractions as grounds to investigate motorists for more serious crimes. The measure, named after Tyre Nichols, a Black man who was beaten to death by Memphis officers during a traffic stop, will still allow police to make traffic stops for primary violations but not for secondary violations or minor infractions. Civil rights groups say the tactic unfairly targets Black drivers. The end of these kinds of stops has been on the list of police reforms that activists had called for since Nichols’ death.
