Townhall Reviews Solutions to Racially Biased Pretext Stops by Police

Join CFA members, grassroots organizers, and other allies March 15 at 1 p.m. for a townhall about Senate Bill 50: Limiting Racially Biased Pretextual Traffic Stops.

The event will explore how pretextual stops devastate communities of color, undermine safety, and waste tremendous public dollars. SB 50 would help reduce those harms by limiting law enforcement’s ability to use minor, non-safety-related traffic infractions. It will also provide technical clarification to ensure that cities and counties in California have sufficient flexibility to explore non-law enforcement approaches to traffic safety. Register here.

In “pretextual stops,” police use trivial violations such as expired vehicle registration tags and broken taillights as a pretext for initiating a stop in what studies show amount to racially biased fishing expeditions. Tyre Nichols, Duante Wright, Sandra Bland, and Philando Castile are some of the many people killed by police during pretextual stops.

“I encourage everyone – especially those who work in education – to attend this townhall and brainstorm ways to make our universities, schools, and communities safer,” said Monishia “Moe” Miller, CFA Vice President of Lecturers, South, and CSU Fullerton lecturer. “Let’s end this racist, destructive practice of singling out people of color with police intimidation and harassment.”

The event is sponsored by CFA, Catalyst California, California Black Power Network, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, and Prosecutors Alliance of California. Bill author Senator Steven Bradford will speak at the townhall.

“Across the country, police and prosecutors are joining a call that justice reform activists have long issued: to end the unsafe and racially discriminatory practice of using minor violations as an excuse to detain and interrogate motorists, cyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. It’s time to end police stops for driving, biking or walking while Black,” wrote Bradford and Cristine DeBerry, founder and executive director of the Prosecutors Alliance of California, in a recent opinion piece.