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No police traffic stops? College professor suggests they should be a thing of the past

No police traffic stops? College professor suggests they should be a thing of the past
the prevailing emotion that many people throughout black America myself included felt when we heard the verdict of the jury announced was released because in far too many cases, when a police officer has clearly crossed the line brutalised an unarmed african american civilians and in many instances cause death, there has been no accountability. Well, I was relieved, like so many people watching across the country. Uh but to be clear, this is not about one officer or one police department, this is about a system in the police uh law enforcement where we need to have greater accountability and that's why we are calling on the Senate to take up and pass the George Floyd justice in policing act so that we can create national standards for uh the use of force for eliminating chokeholds, for eliminating the no knock warrant for establishing a national registry so that the bad uh actors and law enforcement aren't able to move from department to department and so that those good enforcement officers can do their job with competence from and with the community. Today, when we saw policemen after policemen come and testify against derek chauvin, I think that put us in the right direction, that they understand you have nothing to worry about as a police officer with the George, Floyd, justice and police back unless you're bad police officers.
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No police traffic stops? College professor suggests they should be a thing of the past
Video above: House Dems push police reform after Chauvin trialA law professor at the University of Arkansas has a new way of looking at police involvement in traffic stops.Professor Jordan Blair Woods' study, "Traffic Without the Police," is going to be published in the Stanford Law Review.Woods said, when it comes to routine traffic stops, police should be taken out of the equation."Many traffic stops that escalate into violence are often related to the ways in which officers invoke their authority during traffic stops that go beyond just asking for a driver's license or registration. Things like ordering people out of the car, telling someone that they're under arrest, putting their hands inside of the vehicle," he said. In Woods' article, he argues police should not enforce traffic laws. Instead, he suggests traffic stops should be delegated to independent "traffic agencies" that are separate from police departments. "Rather than have police be the ones, in particular armed police officers, that are the ones who enforce these types of laws, we could move in the direction of having a different civil agency that is separate from the police conduct this type of work. The goal is that we would then see fewer traffic stops devolving into unnecessary violence against communities of color," Woods said.The traffic agencies would help with simple stops like having a headlight out or rolling through a stop sign, but Woods said police would still be called in for serious traffic stops like a DUI or a stolen vehicle."I hope that, if the article does anything, is to start a conversation that there's a new path ahead and a different path for communities to achieve traffic safety and avoid some of these horrible incidents we're seeing occurring over and over again," he said. Click here to read Traffic Without the Police.

Video above: House Dems push police reform after Chauvin trial

A law professor at the University of Arkansas has a new way of looking at police involvement in traffic stops.

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Professor Jordan Blair Woods' study, "Traffic Without the Police," is going to be published in the Stanford Law Review.

Woods said, when it comes to routine traffic stops, police should be taken out of the equation.

"Many traffic stops that escalate into violence are often related to the ways in which officers invoke their authority during traffic stops that go beyond just asking for a driver's license or registration. Things like ordering people out of the car, telling someone that they're under arrest, putting their hands inside of the vehicle," he said.

In Woods' article, he argues police should not enforce traffic laws. Instead, he suggests traffic stops should be delegated to independent "traffic agencies" that are separate from police departments.

"Rather than have police be the ones, in particular armed police officers, that are the ones who enforce these types of laws, we could move in the direction of having a different civil agency that is separate from the police conduct this type of work. The goal is that we would then see fewer traffic stops devolving into unnecessary violence against communities of color," Woods said.

The traffic agencies would help with simple stops like having a headlight out or rolling through a stop sign, but Woods said police would still be called in for serious traffic stops like a DUI or a stolen vehicle.

"I hope that, if the article does anything, is to start a conversation that there's a new path ahead and a different path for communities to achieve traffic safety and avoid some of these horrible incidents we're seeing occurring over and over again," he said.

Click here to read Traffic Without the Police.