Berkeley may become first US city to ban cops from making traffic stops

[Greg]

We should defund public education instead of the police.

The little skulls full of garbage have been busy this summer.

[BehindBlueI's]

The proposals I’ve seen for this from the left are that they won’t be able to check for warrants or have arrest powers. I’ll be curious to see how that works and how the city sets this up.

I don’t know exactly how the law works now, so some enlgihtment from our LE / lawyers would be nice, but can a city have a force that’s licensed to temporarily detain people but not have actual arrest powers?

You can for commercial vehicles, at least: https://www.in.gov/isp/3116.htm These are civilian employees with red/blue lights, but no guns, who are non-sworn employees of the Indiana State Police. Other than that they exist, I know very little about them.

On a side note, the argument that traffic enforcement is only about revenue seems very common among the general citizenry, particularly online. Seems like a great time to see if there are any unintended consequences here or if they were right all along.

[TGS]

You can for commercial vehicles, at least: https://www.in.gov/isp/3116.htm These are civilian employees with red/blue lights, but no guns, who are non-sworn employees of the Indiana State Police. Other than that they exist, I know very little about them.

Interesting. Do the IN State Troopers not do motor carrier inspections, then? I figured they would pull them off the road to do their annual 32-minimum inspections in order to get their position financially backstopped by the USG (like many state police agencies do) instead of having a separate inspection division of non-sworn.

@Trooper224, did you guys do something like this?

[Checkman]

They have those in the UK.

Chris

They also use them in Germany. During my tour of duty there (93-96) I received a couple.

[BehindBlueI's]

Interesting. Do the IN State Troopers not do motor carrier inspections, then? I figured they would make pull them off the road to do their annual 32-minimum inspections in order to get their position financially backstopped by the USG (like many state police agencies do) instead of having a separate inspection division of non-sworn.

@Trooper224, did you guys do something like this?

I don't know how they decide when to use sworn and non-sworn. Like I said, other than that they exist I don't know much about them and have had zero professional interaction with them. We've got a few officers trained to do the inspection in the event of a crash, so in the rare instance I care about that sort of thing it's done in house.

[Doug]

On a side note, the argument that traffic enforcement is only about revenue seems very common among the general citizenry, particularly online. Seems like a great time to see if there are any unintended consequences here or if they were right all along.

I won’t comment on the human side but on the tech side, some agencies did use red light cameras and relied on their revenue generation

https://www.governing.com/topics/pub...t-cameras.html

“One of the problems he sees is that some cities implemented red light cameras not as a safety measure, but as a revenue source. If red light cameras are set up properly, Rader argues, they may not bring in much money because motorists stop rather than run a red light. “Some communities have shot themselves in the foot. If the public believes that red light cameras are more about revenue than safety, then communities have a problem.”

[Nephrology]

I won’t comment on the human side but on the tech side, some agencies did use red light cameras and relied on their revenue generation

https://www.governing.com/topics/pub...t-cameras.html

“One of the problems he sees is that some cities implemented red light cameras not as a safety measure, but as a revenue source. If red light cameras are set up properly, Rader argues, they may not bring in much money because motorists stop rather than run a red light. “Some communities have shot themselves in the foot. If the public believes that red light cameras are more about revenue than safety, then communities have a problem.”

When I moved to CO, I got 3x red light camera tickets for turning right on red in the city of aurora (legal). As soon as I got CO plates, I stopped getting these tickets. Jeez. What a coincidence. I was pissed.

I voted against the continuation of its program, which apparently generated a lot of money for the city and did not improve traffic safety. Good riddance.

[TGS]

When I moved to CO, I got 3x red light camera tickets for turning right on red in the city of aurora (legal). As soon as I got CO plates, I stopped getting these tickets. Jeez. What a coincidence. I was pissed.

I voted against the continuation of its program, which apparently generated a lot of money for the city and did not improve traffic safety. Good riddance.

Where I used to live, we got rid of red light cameras after a pretty strong correlation with an increase in traffic accidents.

Instead of rolling through a yellow, people would slam on their breaks fearing a ticket if the light turned red......and presto.

[Luger]

These are civilian employees with red/blue lights, but no guns, who are non-sworn employees of the Indiana State Police. Other than that they exist, I know very little about them.

Well, this is dump. Why have a bunch of guys in uniform and marked vehicles on patrol, if they are unarmed and may not arrest?

A armed police officer can do traffic enforcement, then quickly turn around and respond to an armed robbery. A civilian employee can't.

[BehindBlueI's]

Well, this is dump. Why have a bunch of guys in uniform and marked vehicles on patrol, if they are unarmed and may not arrest?

A armed police officer can do traffic enforcement, then quickly turn around and respond to an armed robbery. A civilian employee can't.

They aren't on patrol, they just do commercial motor vehicle stuff. The advantage is since they only have to be trained in one aspect, they are faster to hire, train, and deploy. Qualifications are lower then a sworn officer, as is pay and benefits. State police vary in mission around the US, but are mainly tasked with interstates and highways.