St. Paul-area police are making fewer traffic stops for equipment violations. What’s been the result?

Mara H. Gottfried, Pioneer Press
·4 min read
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A Roseville police officer who spots a person driving with one burnt-out headlight or expired license tabs can do something about it in 30 seconds vs. a five to 10-minute traffic stop, the police chief says.

Erika Scheider’s department was the first in 2021 to move away from traffic stops for vehicle equipment violations, allowing officers to focus more on criminal activity and moving violations that endanger public safety. Now, when a Roseville officer sees a driver with an equipment violation, they use the laptop in their squad car to quickly note it and the department mails the registered owner a letter to notify them. They’ve sent more than 1,500 letters so far this year.

The Roseville department’s policy change came in August 2021, and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi made an announcement in September 2021 on a larger scale: He would no longer prosecute most felonies found during traffic stops that happened for a non-public safety equipment violation. St. Paul, Roseville, Maplewood and St. Anthony police agreed to make changes to their traffic stop practices.

An analysis of the first year of data shows the changes led to a significant decrease in stops for equipment violations and nearly eliminated racial disparity in subsequent vehicle searches. However, Black drivers continued to be much more likely to be stopped for a moving violation and have their vehicle searched compared to drivers of other races and ethnicities.

Choi’s policy stated that in order to rebuild trust and cooperation with communities of color and redirect law enforcement resources on the greatest public safety threats, “we will decline to prosecute charges arising from non-public-safety stops or searches of vehicles based solely on consent.”

Effect on crime rates

The Justice Innovation Lab studied outcomes based on the first year of data and concluded that reducing non-public safety traffic stops leads to more equitable traffic policing.

“Overall, the data analyses indicate that the new traffic stop policies and practices were successful in reducing minor, non-safety-related vehicle violation stops, that this reduction resulted in a narrowing of racial differences in traffic stops and searches, and that the policy had no discernible effect on crime rates,” the nonprofit organization wrote in a report released Wednesday.

Crime had been the concern of people who criticized the policy change in 2021. They said Choi was decriminalizing illegal activity and cited examples of officers pulling people over for equipment violations that resulted in discovery of a serious crime.

Looking at St. Paul police information about firearms seized during traffic stops, the Justice Innovation Lab wrote that while “there appears to be a drop in traffic stop firearm seizures following change implementation, the overall numbers are very small. … On average, the SPPD seized 1.4 firearms per day overall both before and after implementation of the new traffic stop practices.”

Non-public safety traffic stops drop from 25 to 5 percent

The county attorney’s definition of “non-public-safety” stops are the following violations of state law:

  • Expired license plate tabs.

  • No light illuminating the rear license plate.

  • Loud muffler.

  • Air fresheners or other objects hanging from the rearview mirror.

  • Cracked windshield.

  • Windows tinted too dark.

  • One headlight or rear brake light not working (if either both headlights or both rear brake lights are out, the county attorney’s office considers it a public safety hazard and doesn’t include it in the policy).

Non-public safety traffic stops by participating law enforcement agencies decreased from 25 percent of all traffic stops to 5 percent in the year after implementation, according to Justice Innovation Lab.

While racial disparities decreased, they still persisted. Black drivers were about 2.7 times more likely than white drivers, per capita, to be pulled over both for equipment and moving violations throughout Ramsey County in September 2021 to August.

The most recent numbers show that since changes to stops for equipment violations, Black drivers were 3 times less likely to be pulled over than they were in the year before the change. White drivers were 2 times less likely to be stopped than in the previous year.

Christopher Magan contributed to this report.

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