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\u201cIt is imperative that Suffolk County and Boston start taking steps to remove law enforcement from traffic safety,\u201d Fatema Ahmad, executive director of the Muslim Justice League, said in a statement. Ahmad called traffic stops \u201ca major source of racial profiling\u201d that \u201cdo not improve traffic safety and harm Black and brown people daily.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The death of another Black man<\/a> at the hands of a white Michigan police officer during a traffic stop in April renewed cries to rethink the role of police officers in responding to minor vehicle violations, including driving with tinted windows, a faulty tail light, or expired registration. Patrick Lyoya, 26, was stopped for driving with a license plate that didn\u2019t belong to his vehicle. The police officer was <\/b>charged with second-degree murder<\/a> after fatally shooting Lyoya in a struggle that ensued over his driver\u2019s license.<\/span><\/p>\n US Attorney Rachael Rollins, the former Suffolk district attorney, said there is \u201cabsolutely a movement\u201d to change the approach to misdemeanor traffic violations in the legal system.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve sadly seen around the country is some of these low-level traffic stops result in harm, either to the driver or to the officer, and I care about both,\u201d she said. \u201cWe in law enforcement need to start adapting our approach, because it is unbelievable that a misdemeanor like that could result in a murder.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n While prosecutors cannot change state law, district attorneys can decide not to prosecute certain offenses, a discretionary power Rollins instructed her office to use regularly for certain low-level misdemeanors. A spokesman for current Suffolk district attorney Kevin Hayden said his office is \u201cstill looking at the report and keeping all options on the table.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n After examining county-wide traffic-stop data from 2002 to 2021, the Vera Institute determined that in Boston, police stop Black drivers at 2.4 times the rate of white drivers \u2014 and 3.8 times for non-traffic-safety violations. In Winthrop, that racial disparity is more than twice as severe.<\/span><\/p>\n The study also found that Black drivers were the only racial or ethnic group consistently overrepresented in traffic stops across Suffolk County, which comprises Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop.<\/span><\/p>\n The findings differ sharply from the results of a study published in February <\/a>by the state\u2019s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. It found no evidence for a pattern of racial disparity in traffic stops and reported that Black drivers were more likely to be stopped at night, when \u201cpolice officers are less likely to be able to determine a driver\u2019s race.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Like the Vera Institute report, the statewide study also found drivers of color were more likely to be subjected to searches and receive a criminal citation than white drivers.<\/span><\/p>\n But while the Vera Institute study examined county-wide traffic data from the past two decades, the state study looked only at the period from February to December 2020, a time when the pandemic severely disrupted traditional driving patterns<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is a teaching moment, because we can look at data about the same subject, but depending on the data sets and who is asking the questions, it can be skewed very differently,\u201d said Rollins, whose office partnered with the Vera Institute on the study during her tenure as district attorney. \u201cWe\u2019re only as good as our data, and I believe we have an obligation to look at the numbers and see how our decisions are impacting real human beings.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Seleeke Flingai, lead researcher on the study at the Vera Institute, a research and policy group, said the study was not intended to prove whether racial profiling or subconscious bias factor into an officer\u2019s decision to stop someone.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe question of whether an individual officer is biased is immaterial compared to the larger question of why we have this policy in place that puts Black and brown people at higher risk for incredibly minor things?\u201d he said, \u201cEspecially when research suggests these types of stops have no impact on crime rates or public safety.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Given that Black residents are significantly more likely to get pulled over for minor infractions, the recent study makes the case for eliminating 15 non-traffic-safety vehicle violations responsible for nearly half of the racial disparity in Suffolk County, <\/b>a change some groups have been lobbying for.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe know that traffic safety is achievable without police enforcement,\u201d Catherine Gleason, public policy manager of LivableStreets Alliance, said in a statement. \u201cBanning non-traffic-safety related stops is a clear step toward dismantling the discriminatory role law enforcement plays in traffic safety.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In its own traffic safety report<\/a> published in April, LivableStreets Alliance cited civilian workers at city or state transportation or public works departments as viable alternatives to police enforcement of traffic violations. The report also pointed to New York City, which recently implemented a \u201crestorative justice approach\u201d to traffic violence that seeks to educate drivers instead of issuing citations.<\/span><\/p>\n Sergeant Detective John Boyle, a spokesman for the Boston Police Department, said the department is in the process of reviewing the report and its recommendations.<\/span><\/p>\n Boston City Councilor <\/b>Tania Fernandes Anderson has said she would support research into creating a \u201clargely civilian workforce\u201d for traffic enforcement, which she said would also reduce the number of details police officers are required to do.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cExisting practices like bias training haven\u2019t really borne the fruit that people desire,\u201d Flingai said. \u201cBoth for minor violations and at traffic control events like construction sites or block parties, training civilians to enforce traffic safety is the surest way to minimize harmful contact between police and communities and prevent what might be disastrous results.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Ivy Scott can be reached at ivy.scott@globe.com<\/a>. Follow her on Twitter @itsivyscott<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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