Vera Institute of Justice

Over the past decade, efforts to limit non-safety-related traffic stops have swept across the United States. These stops for low-level infractions—like a dangling air freshener, single burnt-out taillight, or expired registration—do not improve traffic safety, and police officers have used them in ways that disproportionately subject Black drivers to physical, psychological, and economic harm. Oftentimes, police have used these stops as a pretext to search for guns and drugs—with little success.

Police departments across the country are proving that change is possible. The first known policy to eliminate non-safety-related traffic stops was implemented in 2013 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, under the direction of then-Police Chief Harold Medlock. Fayetteville’s experiment led to decreased racial disparities in traffic enforcement and fewer car crashes and traffic injuries/fatalities, with no impact on non-traffic crime, showing that this type of policy can work. Although the Fayetteville policy ended in 2017, it set the stage for state and local governments, police departments, and district attorneys across the country to take action for safer, fairer traffic enforcement.

Today, 0 jurisdictions have limited or eliminated non-safety-related traffic stops through policy.

Key takeaways

• Cities are leading the way on progress, with 17 having an active policy deprioritizing non-safety-related traffic enforcement.
• Virginia was the first state to implement a comprehensive policy of this type. Currently, laws have been implemented in 6 states. Additional bills are under consideration in 7 other states.
• The main levers of change are legislation, law enforcement policy, prosecutorial policy, and executive order. Policies adopted by law enforcement (totaling 10) are easiest to institute but least durable, and they can be unclear about policy specifics. Prosecutorial policies (totaling 4) and executive orders (totaling 1), like law enforcement policies, can be reversed by new leadership, but tend to be more specific and are less often rescinded. Legislation (totaling 15 active laws) is durable and specific, but difficult to pass and update.

About the data

Using field knowledge, media, and internet research, Vera actively tracks policies and legislation that limit non-safety-related traffic stops. Vera only includes policies that are available to the public. Vera does not include law enforcement policies known only from media coverage unless Vera researchers were able to corroborate details of the policy. Vera removes policies that are no longer active. Conversely, Vera includes policies and legislation under active consideration by a legislature or agency.

Acknowledgments

Vera would like to thank the following colleagues for their invaluable research and advice: Marta Nelson, Daniela Gilbert, Kerry Mulligan, and Sunwoo Oh.

This project was supported in part through funding from The Just Trust.

Credits

Design and development: Jill Hubley.

Research: Daniel Bodah, Hamilton Brooks, Sam Raim, Sheeba Pawar, and Brenique Bogle.