The city of Los Angeles may soon use civilians and not police to enforce traffic laws, according to a new report from the city’s transportation department.
Los Angeles hired an outside firm in the midst of the backlash to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin in 2020, which sparked nationwide protests against police.
It also comes on the heels of an announcement that the state of California will pay a $24million civil rights settlement to the family of a man who died in a 2020 traffic stop after screaming ‘I can’t breathe’ as multiple officers restrained him while trying to take a blood sample, lawyers said Tuesday.
The city’s council, at the time, pushed the idea that traffic duties could be handled by the transportation department rather than police.
The outside firm hired to produce the report by the LADOT, however, says that the plan cannot go forward without significant investments in infrastructure that would organically improve city streets.
The city of Los Angeles may soon use civilians and not police to enforce traffic laws, according to a new report from the city’s transportation department suggesting they take up the duties. The city is also looking to decrease traffic violence
The report calls narrower streets, bike-specific lanes and more clearly marked crosswalks ‘self-enforcing infrastructure.
The report says that if they expand these programs, they should also be less reliant on police for enforcement.
Activists for criminal justice reform say traffic stop violence is a symptom of over-policing and hasn’t helped make the city safer, the LA Times reported.
However, those on the side of transportation safety argue there needs to be a harder crackdown on reckless driving in low income neighborhoods.
The LAPD, in the wake of the Floyd protests, introduced restrictions on pulling over people for minor traffic infractions and using this as an opportunity to search them for possible other crimes.
The report recommends they further expand these restrictions.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore even said that ‘finding alternatives to a police response is something that the department is very much interested in.’
He added: ‘If [department of transportation] were to pick that work up, I think we’d welcome it.’
LAPD Chief Michel Moore has even said that ‘finding alternatives to a police response is something that the department is very much interested in’
The LAPD, in the wake of the Floyd protests, started putting restrictions on pulling over people for minor traffic infractions and using it to search them for possible other crimes
The city is working to cut down on traffic deaths. Traffic collision deaths were up five percent in 2022 and up 29 percent from 2020, with 312 people killed.
There was also a 19 percent rise in the number of people killed in collisions involving pedestrians and drivers and an 11 percent rise in people killed in collisions involving cyclists and drivers, according to the LAPD.
Cities such as Berkeley, Oakland and Philadelphia are cited for using unarmed civilians to curtail speeding infractions.
It also suggests ‘means-based’ fee models. This would involve vouchers to repair broken taillights and traffic safety objectives that ‘do not perpetuate’ income inequality.
It just adds to the numerous problems plaguing the city and the Golden State, in addition to crime and homelessness.
‘As a city, we get an F grade for our traffic, for the amount of traffic violations and our ability to curb serious fatalities and injuries,’ Damian Kevitt, executive director of Streets Are For Everyone, said in a statement.
‘I understand that we’ve got a housing crisis, I don’t disagree that we’re prioritizing that. But we [also] have a public health traffic violence crisis.’
The police unions remain less convinced and any changes may have to be won via collective bargaining with the Los Angeles Police Protective League.
Mayor Eric Garcetti has looked for ways to reform the police system since the Floyd protests of 2020
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore attends a ‘Unity March’ against racial inequality in the aftermath of the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd
While they are willing to allow civilians to do low-level enforcement work, they do not want to relinquish traffic stops.
The department of transportation would also need significant increases in staffing to pull off such a change, as they currently have nearly 70 unfilled vacancies.
Once the report is officially published the next move would be for state legislatures to act.
In September 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law barring police from using certain face-down holds that have led to multiple unintended deaths. The bill was aimed at expanding on the state’s ban on chokeholds in the wake of Floyd’s murder.
