The Coalition to End Biased Stops is a broad-based group of community organizations and advocates who are committed to ending racially biased, low-level traffic stops by police in San Francisco.
Police use these non-safety violations as a “pretext” to detain and search people, wreaking untold economic, physical, psychological, and intergenerational harm, especially against Black San Franciscans. Pretextual (pretext) stops commonly lead to further inquiries unrelated to any traffic matter that disproportionately impacts communities of color, often lead to violence, and have already been banned in other local jurisdictions. Read about the impacts of pretext stops.
On Wednesday, May 11, the Coalition to End Biased Stops held a virtual press conference to call for an to end racially biased traffic stops. The press conference was held ahead of the San Francisco Police Commission meeting on the evening of May 11, introducing potential reforms to the SF Police Department’s traffic enforcement policies. Now that Commissioner Max Carter-Oberstone has introduced the review process of DGO 9.01, the policy that governs traffic enforcement, we have begun a crucial public comment period.
The San Francisco Police Commission needs to hear from you about the need to end racially based traffic stops.
It is vitally important that the Police Commission receive an outpouring of community support for ending pretext stops, and we have made it easy for you to contact them directly. To register your support, click here.
Progress Across the Country
City of Berkeley: Mayor and City Council directed the city manager to implement a set of recommendations, including “eliminate stops for low-level offenses.”
City of Los Angeles: As of February 2021, Los Angeles is creating a report on alternative models and methods that do not rely on armed law enforcement to achieve transportation policy objectives, including traffic enforcement, moving violation and vehicle code enforcement, DUI details, traffic collision reporting and investigation, fare enforcement, bandit cab enforcement, and other programmatic areas. The study had not been started as of August 2021. Read more.
In February 2022, the police chief approved a policy that would limit traffic and bike stops for “minor equipment violations or other infractions” to only when the violation “significantly interferes with public safety.” The policy restricts the use of pretextual stops to instances where the officer is acting upon “articulable information in addition to the traffic violation, which may or may not amount to reasonable suspicion, regarding a serious crime.” The policy would also prevent officers form extending the duration or scope of a stop without additional reasonable suspicion or probable cause beyond the original basis for the stop. Read more.
Washington: Senate Bill 5485 is currently in Committee. The bill would bar officers from stopping or detaining a driver or to enforce several moving and quality of car violations.
Massachusetts: Senate Bill 1546 was introduced in 2021 and would prohibit officers from making pretextual stops, asking questions unrelated to the stop, or conducting a search unrelated to the stop without independent justification.
Cambridge, MA: City Council calls for a transfer of routine traffic enforcement from the police department to unarmed city employees in other departments.
Montgomery County, MD: In September 2020, City Council members called for a study to determine whether traffic enforcement can be shifted from the police department.
Washington, D.C: A newly created police reform commission has recommended traffic enforcement be transferred to the DC Department of Transportation.
Virginia: Since March of 2021, the state has limited pretextual stops. Several minor infractions remain illegal, but cannot be the primary reason police pull a driver over. These infractions include: non-functioning brake and tail lights, improper license plate illumination, defective and unsafe equipment, a broken or loud exhaust system, tinted windows, objects dangling from a rearview mirror, or a state inspection that is less than four months past its expiration date. Jaywalking is also reduced to a secondary offense. Additionally, no evidence obtained as a result of such unlawful stop shall be admissible in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding. An NBC News analysis of preliminary data indicates that this new measure is having an impact on the percentage of Black motorists searched by police during traffic stops.
Philadelphia, PA: A Driving Equity Bill was passed in November 2021. The bill ban low-level traffic stops and requires police to gather and publicly release data on traffic stops.
Coalition Members & Endorsements
ACLU of Northern California
Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area office
GLIDE Foundation
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
San Francisco Public Defender
Walk San Francisco