Community members said racial bias is at play during the stops in which officers use minor infractions to search people and their vehicles for evidence of more serious crimes
By Alex Riggins / The San Diego Union-Tribune / August 8, 2024
Duane Bennett was early in his legal career in 1985, working as a deputy district attorney in Riverside County, when he was pulled over and held at gunpoint by Los Angeles police officers. Bennett, who is Black, said officers later told him that he “fit the description,” apparently of a suspect they were looking for. “I know what it means to be profiled and pretext (stopped).”
Bennett, who was hired as outside counsel for San Diego’s Commission on Police Practices, shared his own story Wednesday, August 7, while giving the commission a 45-minute presentation on the history and legality of pretext stops, a controversial but legal tactic in which officers stop drivers or pedestrians for minor infractions as an excuse to search them or their vehicles in hopes of discovering more serious crimes. After the presentation, nearly two dozen community members addressed the commissioners and new San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl to share their own stories of pretext stops and racial profiling.
Chair Gloria Tran said the commission will take the testimony into consideration during its next meeting later this month when it decides how to move forward with potential recommendations to the Police Department on pretext stops. Similar community hearings are planned in the coming months to hear community testimony about the Police Department’s protest policies, de-escalation tactics and other topics.
Community members said pretext stops predominantly affect Black and Latino people, a claim supported by a 2021 study published in the Stanford Law Review. The study’s authors concluded that a Washington court decision that legalized pretext stops after they’d been banned in the state led to an “increase (in) the probability of racial profiling by police officers.”
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Minor infractions excused are for some or all??? I have yet to hear anyone say how a cop behind a car, can see thru the back window and headrest to determine the drivers race. The DMV requires vehicles must be in good shape to legally be on the streets and roads. So if a vehicle has a brake light out, does that increase or decrease the likelihood of them getting rear-ended? If the vehicle is spewing smelly exhaust, is that ok for every car to do, or just the person who got stopped. Is it OK/safe for little kids to be jumping around in the back seat? Not if the car gets hit, they’ll be ejected. Is it OK for all of us to not renew our registration? Or, just the person who gets stopped for expired tags?
My thinking is folks who don’t have the money to keep their vehicles in great shape don’t live in LaJolla, they live where they can afford, and that brings it back to where a lot of the folks are Black, or Hispanic, and fixing the car is not high on their priority list of things to do. I don’t think it’s based on race, I think the stops are based on economics. The vehicle is either safe to be on the street, or not. So if they get stopped and the cop runs their license plate to make sure the registered driver is driving, and discovers the driver is wanted for a crime then is the cop supposed to let all of the wanted people go? Or, if when the cop stops them and runs their drivers license discovers the driver is a felon, felons are not supposed to have drugs or guns available. The cop sees what looks like coke, or some other illegal substance on the center arm rest or in the driver’s nose, or a syringe. That’s gonna get the car “tossed” and probably one or some of the occupants arrested. People who have the money can afford to keep their vehicles in safe running condition. People who have to decide between food, and car registration or repair, are going to spend their money on food. but when they get stopped I don’t believe it’s because the cop behind them has xray vision and can see the driver is not white. The incidents of stops naturally increase in low income areas of SD more frequently than in more wealthy areas. The cause of the stop is on the driver/registered owner for not maintaining their vehicles.