Pirate's Cove

The devil is in the details, and I can’t see how this works well when some car tries to pull you over that’s not a law enforcement officer

Berkeley moves toward removing police from traffic stops

After hours of emotional public testimony and a middle-of-the-night vote by Berkeley leaders, the progressive California city is moving forward with a novel proposal to replace police with unarmed civilians during traffic stops in a bid to curtail racial profiling.

The City Council early Wednesday approved a police reform proposal that calls for a public committee to hash out details of a new Berkeley Police Department that would not respond to calls involving people experiencing homelessness or mental illness. The committee also would pursue creating a separate department to handle transportation planning and enforcing parking and traffic laws.

The council voted for the committee to find ways to eventually cut the Police Department’s budget by half and approved an analysis of police calls and spending.

It could take months, even years, to create a new department, but police and other law enforcement experts rebuked the idea as dangerous, not only for traffic safety but for the people tasked with pulling over drivers, who they say can be dangerous.

Can’t wait to see the final plan, as Berkeley deploys a whole lot of Karens in Prius’, thinking that people will stop and accept a ticket from someone without a uniform, badge, or weapon. It would be great if police officers were not needed for minor things, right? But, they are, because once in a while they go pear shaped. Lots of summer parking enforcement officers are now armed with at least tasers, some with firearms, because some people get nuts when the meter runs out and they get a ticket.

Cronin, a former traffic officer, said cities can’t rely on unattended traffic signals or camera lights to catch bad drivers and that people are needed to educate motorists on safe driving. But those people also need backup and the authority to arrest should they encounter a driver who is intoxicated, armed and fleeing a crime, or wanted on other charges.

“Traffic stops are one of the most unpredictable and therefore dangerous duties of law enforcement. There is no such thing as a routine traffic stop and to perform them effectively and safely takes months of police training in and outside of an academy,” said Frank Merenda, a former New York City Police Department captain who is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Marist College.

Traffic stops are one of the duties of officers that has the biggest unknown. You never know how the person pulled over will act.

But, hey, let’s cheer Berkeley on. We need experimental groups to go through the tough stuff, right?