LAPD will drastically cut back on pulling over random vehicles over racial bias concerns

[Demovictory9]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-13/after-times-investigation-lapd-to-make-major-changes-to-elite-metropolitan-division

LAPD will drastically cut back on pulling over random vehicles over racial bias concerns

In a major shift prompted by a Times investigation, the Los Angeles Police Department’s elite Metropolitan Division will drastically cut back on pulling over random vehicles, a cornerstone of the city’s crime-fighting strategy that has come under fire for its disproportionate impact on black and Latino drivers.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore told The Times that Metro’s vehicle stops have not proven effective, netting about one arrest for every 100 cars stopped, while coming at a tremendous cost to innocent drivers who felt they were being racially profiled.

Metro crime suppression officers, who number about 200, will instead track down suspects wanted for violent crime and use strategies other than vehicle stops to address crime flare-ups ranging from burglaries to shootings.

“Is the antidote or the treatment itself causing more harm to trust than whatever small or incremental reduction you may be seeing in violence?” Moore said on Thursday. “And even though we’re recovering hundreds more guns, and those firearms represent real weapons and dangers to a community, what are we doing to the tens of thousands of people that live in those communities and their perception of law enforcement?”


The changes, which take effect in late November, were hailed by community leaders who were critical of the LAPD’s stop strategies. But the union that represents rank-and-file Los Angeles police officers said Moore had left the residents of South L.A. vulnerable to being preyed on by criminals.

The Times investigation, published in January, showed that Metro officers stopped African American drivers at a rate more than five times their share of the city’s population.

Nearly half the drivers stopped by Metro were black, in a city that is 9% black, according to the analysis.

Even in South L.A., where most residents are black or Latino, the percentage of black drivers stopped by Metro was twice their share of the population, the analysis found.

[hmanne]

1. Why is the LAPD "randomly" pulling over vehicles in the first place?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the cops have to have probable cause to pull someone over?

[Opel_Justwax]

3. They watch them for a traffic infraction then when the driver does one...

they pull them over. Then they start demanding answers to questions and demanding to search the car.

[Demovictory9]

6. and black and Latino drivers are pulled out of the car and handcuffed during the questioning

[PoliticAverse]

4. Short answer - no, the standard is the looser "reasonable suspicion".

See: https://legaldictionary.net/reasonable-suspicion/

[hmanne]

7. Thanks for the link.

It's still bullshit, much like the NYPD's stop and frisk program that targeted mainly POC.

[elleng]

2. Clever, can't figure out what they're doing so

stop doing ANYthing.

[TheBlackAdder]

5. They'll just park their car in a driveway or alley, shining headlights to illuminate occupants.

.

Standard police tactic. Park at night so the headlights shine into the street.

It illuminates the passenger compartment as the vehicles drive part the police car.

.