The tragic deaths of Philandro Castille, Sandra Bland, and countless others are the result of one of the most widespread manifestations of racist policing: the traffic stop. In theory, the traffic stop is supposed to protect drivers’ safety, however in practice it too often does the opposite. Beyond being a fundamentally counterproductive use of resources and method of policing, the traffic stop epitomizes both the problematic over-involvement of police officers in our country, as well as the ways in which racism, both overt and subconscious, can turn routine interactions into lethal altercations. Philandro and Sandra’s deaths reveal the racial profiling, excessive measures, and unwarranted brutality that is inherently intertwined with the practice of traffic stops - and disproportionately impacts the black community. 

Detective cameras, like are often found at intersections with traffic lights, can be installed more abundantly in a system of automated enforcement to significantly reduce our reliance on the patrolling policeman. As noted in the proposal below, “the available enforcement technology is only able to read the license plate of the motor vehicle”, disallowing the type of car being driven or the race of the person inside of it to be factors in pursuing a violation.

Why does Philadro Castille’s broken tail light or Sandra Bland’s failure to signal require immediate intervention by an armed officer while running a red light - an objectively more dangerous violation - is okay to be dealt with via mailed fine? Why does it make sense to pay and equip a policeman to do a job that automated enforcement has proven to be better at? Any routine traffic stop ending in an arrest, let alone a death is an indication of a fundamentally broken method of policing. I’m calling on Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw to abolish the traffic stop and end the racial policing that it enables.  

Here is a more concrete look into what a system of automated traffic enforcement might look like:  https://willbrownsberger.com/automated-traffic-enforcement/