DETROIT JUSTICE CENTER LEGAL SERVICES AND ADVOCACY PRACTICE
TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT TOOLKIT FOR POLICE THE PROBLEM Because of how laws that regulate traffic make it a crime to be poor, when police engage in traffic enforcement, they often penalize people for being poor, with little or no benefit to public safety. For example, stopping and ticketing people for driving on a suspended license does not actually have a public safety benefit. License suspensions in Michigan are for unpaid traffic debt, which typically only reflects a person’s ability to afford a ticket, but does not have anything to do with whether those drivers are safe drivers. Thus, ticketing someone for driving on a suspended license just punishes them for being poor, but does not actually keep anyone on the road any safer. Likewise,, because poverty disproportionately affects black and brown people, this also means that laws that criminalize poverty have a racist impact when enforced, even if they are not explicitly racist, and there is no racist intent behind how they are being enforced.
THE SOLUTION Local police departments can play a significant role in ending practices that trap poor people in the criminal legal system. By adopting certain policies, local law enforcement can significantly reduce the harm caused by laws that criminalize poverty while saving community resources and not compromising public safety. For example, local police departments could: • Stop ticketing drivers for offenses that do not endanger public safety such as driving without proof of insurance, minor equipment violations, driving without a valid license plate, driving with a suspended license, or other low-level offenses. • Stop arresting drivers for outstanding warrants related to traffic cases, especially where the warrant resulted from a failure to pay or failure to appear for traffic offenses. • For more serious offenses, issue citations instead of conducting arrests when there is no indication that the person poses an immediate safety threat. • Distribute police or city-created, reader-friendly guide to the traffic court system which informs the ticketed person of their rights, including the right to seek payment alternatives if they suffer financial hardship.
Police Have Authority to Stop Enforcing Laws That Do Not Impact Public Safety Police and police departments have broad discretion in how—and even if—they enforce the law.1 This is because police are trusted with making in the moment decisions about how best to promote public safety.2 While police owe a general duty to the public to provide public safety, the police cannot be sued for not enforcing laws.3 This means police departments have the authority to make a range of decisions on how to respond to certain offenses, from the discretion to issue a citation, a verbal warning, or not engaging at all.