Police and Law Enforcement News and Discussions

[Lorem Ipsum]

Algorithm Predicts Crime a Week in Advance, but Reveals Bias in Police Response
June 30, 2022

Prevent

Stop

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Department of Justice Asks Court to Unseal Trump Search Warrant
by Josh Kovensky
August 11, 2022

Introduction:

(Talking Points Memo) The Justice Department moved Thursday to unseal the search warrant that lead to the unprecedented raid on Mar-a-Lago, absent any complaints from former President Trump, Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

The DOJ wants to reveal the property receipt that Trump received for records that were taken, along with a copy of the warrant itself. Garland said that the DOJ would also seek the release of two attachments to the warrant, though its not clear what those are.

It’s not clear whether an affidavit laying out to the magistrate judge the reasons for the search will be released. That document typically contains the most detailed and comprehensive version of the government’s case in a given investigation.

Garland’s statement was narrow and tailored to focus on the circumstances that led him to decide to push for the release of elements of the warrant. Trump, he remarked, had chosen on Monday to disclose the existence of the searches, and currently possesses a copy of the search warrant and of the receipt.

“The public’s clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing,” the filing reads.

Read more here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politic ... snnews11

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Unsealed Court Documents Show the FBI Was Looking for Evidence Trump Violated the Espionage Act and Other Laws
by Clark D. Cunningham
August 9, 2022

Introduction:

(The Conversation) The FBI recovered confidential and top-secret items from Mar-a-Lago during its Aug. 8, 2022, search of the estate – pointing to former President Donald Trump’s potential violation of several federal laws.

What were they looking for? Read more here: https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools ... /full.pdf

A Florida federal judge – the same one who issued the warrant to search Trump’s estate – ordered on Aug. 12, 2022, that the document be made public – along with an inventory of items seized during the FBI’s raid.

The unsealed documents seem to indicate that the U.S. Department of Justice believes Trump may have violated the Espionage Act, as well as other criminal laws relating to the handling of public records.

Further extract:

The released warrant authorized the FBI to search for evidence that Trump has violated three key laws...
First, there is the Espionage Act: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/793
Then, there is obstruction of justice, which includes concealing documents to obstruct a federal investigation: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1519
Finally, there is the Public Records statute, which prohibits someone entrusted with a public record from “concealing” that document: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2071

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/unsealed-c ... ng-188684

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Here is the heavily redacted affidavit involved in securing the search warrant of Trump's property: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents ... 178541021

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Lawsuit Spotlights How Difficult Search Warrants are to Challenge – by a Criminal Suspect or an Ex-president – Until Charges are Brought
by Clark D. Cunningham
August 23 , 2022

Introduction:

(The Conversation) Some observers say that the lawsuit filed by former President Donald Trump on Aug. 22, 2022, challenging the FBI’s recent search of his Mar-a-Lago estate is “filled with bombastic complaints” and will “blow up in his face.”

I am a legal scholar who is an expert on the various Trump investigations and the constitutional protections against wrongful searches.

I think it is important to recognize that Trump’s lawsuit raises a very serious point: Current federal law does not provide good procedures to protect the rights of people subjected to a search warrant.

Federal law’s limits on searches

The Constitution protects “the right of the people to be secure in their houses and papers” and requires that search warrants must “particularly describe” the place to be searched and the things to be seized.

Trump’s lawsuit asserts that these Constitutional protections were violated both by the broad language of the search warrant and the way it has been carried out by the FBI.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/trumps-mar ... ht-189271

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Insider-Only Hiring of Police Chiefs May Violate Civil Rights Law, Officials Say
by Christine Willmsen
August 26, 2022

Introduction:

(ProPublica) Both U.S. senators from Massachusetts criticized local bans on hiring outsiders as police chiefs, while the top federal law enforcement official in the state said that the restrictions may violate civil rights law.

U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said that requiring police chiefs to be hired from within their departments is “problematic” and “ridiculous.” Such rules may limit the diversity of the candidate pool, she said.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., urged state and local officials to “address these pressing civil rights concerns” and lift “harmful policies that have only made it more difficult for women and people of color to take on leadership roles.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said that “excluding outside candidates from consideration for key public positions is not a good idea.” An ordinance in the Boston suburb of Revere “should be reexamined to ensure all qualified candidates, internal and external, get a fair shot in an inclusive hiring process,” she said.

Rollins, Markey and Warren were reacting to a recent WBUR and ProPublica investigation of the police chief in Revere and the circumstances that led to his selection. Revere and another suburb, Waltham, have had ordinances for more than two decades that ban hiring an outside candidate as chief.

Read more here: https://www.propublica.org/article/ins ... il-rights

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'Huge Win' for Civil Liberties as Judge Blocks Arizona Law Limiting Filming of Police
by Brett Wilkins
September 9, 2022

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Civil libertarians on Friday applauded as a federal judge blocked enforcement of an Arizona law restricting how people can film police officers after agreeing that the legislation is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge John Tuchi granted a preliminary injunction sought by the ACLU of Arizona and media outlets on the grounds that H.B. 2319 violates their First Amendment rights.

The law—which was passed by Arizona's Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Doug Ducey in July—outlaws recording police at a distance of closer than eight feet if the officer verbally objects. It also empowers police officers to order people to stop filming them on private property, even if the property owner consents to the recording.

"Today's ruling is an incredible win for our First Amendment rights and will allow Arizonans to continue to hold police accountable," ACLU of Arizona staff attorney K.M. Bell said in a statement.

"At a time when recording law enforcement interactions is one of the best tools to hold police accountable, we should be working to protect this vital right—not undermine it," they added. "H.B. 2319 is a blatant attempt to prohibit people from exercising their constitutional right to record police in public and we're glad to see the court take action to stop it from going into effect."

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... ng-police

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I sometimes wonder what it is that motivates extremists like Steve Bannon. Perhaps this article has some clues.

Steve Bannon Claims Money Laundering, Conspiracy Arrest was 'One of the Best Days of My Life'
by Meaghan Ellis
September 10, 2022

Introduction:

(Alternet) Steve Bannon, a former White House advisor for Donald Trump, recently revealed the day he was arrested on money laundering and conspiracy charges was actually "one of the best days" of his life.

On Friday, September 9, Bannon recalled his arrest during the latest episode of his podcast. Back in 2021, Bannon was arrested on money laundering and conspiracy in connection with a financial plot involving the "We Build the Wall" fundraising effort.

Speaking to conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, Bannon said, "It was a very powerful, spiritual day for me. A lot of things came into high clarity."
Bannon went on to describe that day as "one of the best days of my life."

"I was totally in the zone — as you say in sports — the entire time," he continued, "They're not gonna shut me up."

Read more here: https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/steve ... 58174938/

caltrek’s comment: Of course, the irony is that the laundering and conspiracy charges were brought to protect people who contributed to Bannon’s build the wall crusade. Their continued support of Bannon is perhaps a good example of false consciousness on steroids.

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California Could Give More Than a Million People with Criminal Records a Fresh Start
by Rachel M. Cohen
September 9, 2022

Introduction:

(Vox) Encounters with the criminal justice system, no matter how long ago or for what reason, can ruin a person’s life. California is on the verge of an ambitious attempt to change that.

An estimated 70 million to 100 million Americans have a criminal record, a history with law enforcement that turns up on background checks and sometimes Google searches. Applicants with criminal records can be half as likely as those without them to get a callback or job offer. Nearly 9 in 10 employers use criminal background checks; so do 4 in 5 landlords, and 3 in 5 colleges and universities. These practical realities make it harder to successfully reintegrate into society, in what researchers call “collateral consequences” of mass incarceration.

Most states have laws allowing for some form of criminal record clearing. Eligible individuals — generally those with no convictions, or who were convicted of a low-level offense — are typically required to petition a judge or state agency for clearance. Most don’t, whether because of the cost, complexity, or simply from lack of information. One University of Michigan study published in 2019 found over 90 percent of those eligible didn’t apply.

As a result, the “Clean Slate” movement was born — a recent push by criminal justice reformers to automatically clear, or seal from public view, records for eligible offenses.

Further extract:

Under SB 731, while landlords and most employers would not be able to view expunged records, public and private schools would still be able to review them during job background checks. Law enforcement, courts, and the state justice department would also still have access to the sealed records, and individuals would be required to disclose their criminal history if asked about it when applying to serve in a public office, among other exceptions. And the law would not apply to sex offenders.

Read more here: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politic ... alifornia

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A Private Policing Company in St. Louis Is Staffed With Top Police Department Officers
by Jeremy Kohler
September 9, 2022

Introduction:

(ProPublica) he biggest private policing company in St. Louis is a who’s who of city police commanders, supervisors and lower-ranking officers.

Among the roughly 200 St. Louis police officers whose names appeared earlier this year on an internal list of officers who had sought and received approval from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to moonlight for The City’s Finest were four of the six district commanders who hold the rank of captain. The list, obtained by ProPublica through a public records request, also included two of the department’s highest-ranking officers, Maj. Ryan Cousins, who oversees the department’s murder, rape and arson investigations, and Maj. Shawn Dace, who oversees South Patrol, which includes two districts. It’s not clear if all of those officers currently work for The City’s Finest.

Dace and the four captains, through the department, declined to comment.

Many of the city’s wealthier — and predominantly white — neighborhoods hire off-duty city police officers from companies like The City’s Finest to supplement patrols by the department, an arrangement that creates disparities in how the city is protected. That many top officers moonlight for a private company that exists to shore up the department’s crime-fighting shortcomings suggests deep troubles, experts said.

Peter Joy, a professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, said there would be less demand for The City’s Finest and other companies if the police department was more effective.

Read more here: https://www.propublica.org/article/off ... -st-louis

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Legal Analyst Indicates Unsealed Mar-a-Lago Affidavit Shows Donald Trump 'Did Play a Role' in Hiding Documents
by David Badash
September 13, 2022

Introduction:

(Alternet) A federal magistrate judge responding to a U.S. Dept. of Justice request Tuesday afternoon further unsealed the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago on August 8.

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, on MSNBC, says the additional information appears to confirm that Donald Trump likely played a role in instructing his attorney, who ultimately certified there were no classified documents remaining at Mar-a-Lago, before federal agents entered the Trump resort and retrieved more than 100 classified and top secret documents.

“This does in large part make the information that’s been revealed consistent between the D.C. and the Florida investigations,” Vance, a professor of law, told Nicolle Wallace.

Vance suggested that the newly revealed information appears to confirm that Trump was at least involved in the events that led his attorney to tell DOJ there were no more classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

“If there’s one takeaway here and Nicole, and it’s not certain, but there’s more of an implication in this newly released information that the former president did play a role in the provision of information about documents to whoever the lawyer who certified this information to the Justice Department,” Vance surmised.

Read more here: https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/donal ... y-a-role/

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Trump's Latest Threat Requires Four Responses
by Robert Reich
September 16, 2022

Introduction:

( Common Dreams) Yesterday, Donald Trump threatened that if he is indicted on a charge of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, there would be "problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we've never seen before," adding "I don't think the people of the United States would stand for it."

These words followed on last month's threat by Senator Lindsey Graham that if Trump is prosecuted, there would be "riots in the street." Trump appeared to endorse Graham's threat, sharing a video link on his Truth Social platform.

Trump's latest threat requires four responses:
1. Trump is daring the Justice Department to prosecute him, in effect asserting he is above the law…
2. Trump's rhetoric is dangerous…
3. We are dealing with a sociopathic narcissist who wants nothing more than to divide the nation over himself…
4. The time has come for Republican lawmakers, candidates, and rightwing media owners and personalities to show some backbone and vigorously repudiate Trump…

Read here for a further brief discussion of each of these points: https://www.commondreams.org/views/202 ... responses

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A GoFundMe Raises Half a Million Dollars for a Teen Girl Who Was Ordered to Pay $150,000 to Her Rapist’s Family
by Samantha Michaels
September , 2022

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Earlier this week, an Iowa judge ordered a teenage girl who survived human trafficking by killing her rapist to pay the man’s family $150,000. Outraged, people around the country began sending her donations—and they’ve already raised more than half a million dollars.

Pieper Lewis was 15 years old when she fatally stabbed Zachary Brooks, then 37, after he raped her repeatedly over the course of weeks in 2020. Another man had allegedly been trafficking her after finding her homeless; that man had forced her to go over to Brooks’ house by holding a knife to her throat.

The police arrested Lewis a day after the killing, and prosecutors charged her with first-degree murder. Last year she pleaded guilty to lesser charges of voluntary manslaughter and willful injury, crimes that are each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Her sentencing hearing was on Tuesday.

Polk County District Judge David Porter ordered Lewis to serve five years of probation, noting that she already spent about two years in juvenile detention during her legal proceedings. He acknowledged that it was unfair to force her to also pay so much money to her abuser’s family as restitution, but said he had “no other option.” The payment is required under Iowa law, which does not make any exception for trafficking victims.

After the hearing, Lewis’ former math teacher Leland Schipper created a GoFundMe fundraiser to raise the money. “Pieper does not deserve to be [financially] burdened for the rest of her life because the state of Iowa wrote a law that fails to give judges any discretion as to how it is applied,” Schipper wrote. “A child who was raped, under no circumstances, should owe the rapist’s family money.” By midday Sunday, the fundraiser had netted over $540,000 in donations, more than three times the amount owed to Brooks’ family. According to Schipper, Lewis plans to use the extra money to pursue college or start her own business, and to explore ways of helping other young survivors of sex trafficking.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... st-death/

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Team Trump Refuses Special Master's Order to List Which Mar-a-Lago Documents Trump 'Declassified'
by Brandon Gage
September 20, 2022

Introduction:

(Alternet) Attorneys for former President Donald Trump on Monday responded to their special master's Saturday request to identify which top secret documents that were among the hoarded trove at Trump's Mar-a-Lago compound that Trump claims he declassified before he quietly removed them from the White House.

Senior Judge Raymond J. Dearie of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York is tasked with reviewing the classification and executive privilege statuses of the highly sensitive materials that were seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation during its August 8th search warrant execution at the Palm Beach, Florida club, which seasoned national security professionals have warned has been a "magnet for spies."

Dearie was hired last week by Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee whose favoritism of Trump has drawn scorn and condemnation by legal experts.

To date, no independent testimony has been presented to corroborate Trump's assertion. And despite his repeated insistence that he declassified some or all of the documents, Trump and his lawyers are declining to reveal specifics to Dearie.

"The Draft Plan requires that the Plaintiff disclose specific information regarding declassification to the Court and to the Government. We respectfully submit that the time and place for affidavits or declarations would be in connection with a Rule 41 motion that specifically alleges declassification as a component of its argument for return of property," Trump's counselors wrote.

Read more here: https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/team- ... l-master/

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Feds Win Appeal to Resume Use of Classified Records in Trump, Mar-a-Lago Probe
Jesse O’Neill
September 21, 2022

Introduction:

(New York Post) Federal prosecutors investigating documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate scored a legal win Wednesday when an appeals court allowed them to resume handling the trove of classified records.

A three-judge Florida federal appeals panel lifted a hold that halted the Department of Justice’s ability to comb through the documents as it weighed potential criminal charges against Trump for stockpiling sensitive government records at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump-appointed US District Judge Aileen Cannon had implemented the restriction on Sept. 5 when she approved Trump’s request for a special master to independently arbitrate claims of privilege on the some 11,000 seized files.

The feds had claimed that the hold hindered the ongoing obstruction and espionage probes against Trump, and successfully argued the government shouldn’t have to wait for special master Judge Raymond Dearie — a longtime Brooklyn federal prosecutor — to finish his review of the case ahead of a late November deadline.

Trump’s legal team had argued that Dearie was needed to separate files that were subject to attorney-client privilege or executive privilege because federal prosecutors were biased.

Read more here: https://nypost.com/2022/09/21/feds-can ... go-probe/

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Feds Win Appeal to Resume Use of Classified Records in Trump, Mar-a-Lago Probe

More on that:

Judge Rejects Trump’s Classification Tomfoolery: “You Can’t Have Your Cake and Eat It”
by Abigail Weinberg and Dan Friedman
September 20, 2022

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Donald Trump’s lawyers would like you to believe that the boxes the FBI seized from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate last month contain Schrödinger’s documents: simultaneously classified and declassified.

Trump has claimed he declassified the documents he took to Mar-a-Lago, but he has never produced a shred of evidence to support that claim. His lawyers have hinted he may have declassified the material, but they’ve been careful not to say so explicitly. In a court filing on Monday, they even asked Judge Raymond Dearie, the special master appointed to review the documents DOJ seized, not to make them address the issue, because Trump might be charged and they don’t want to tip their hand and detail “a defense to the merits of any subsequent indictment.”

The Justice Department has a simpler position: Documents with classification markings are classified.

On Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers, while refusing to say whether the documents were classified, insisted the DOJ had not done its part to prove the documents were classified. Dearie was not having it. “If the government gives me prima facia evidence that they are classified documents, and you don’t advance any claim of declassification, I’m left with a prima facia case of classified documents, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of it,” he said. “You can’t have your cake and eat it.”

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... ster-doj/

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Mexico Senate Extends Use of Armed Forces for Public Safety to 2028
by Cody Copeland
October 6, 2022

Introduction:

MEXICO CITY (Courthouse News) — Mexico’s Senate advanced President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s expansion of military power Tuesday when it voted to extend the deployment of the armed forces in matters of public safety until 2028.

The bill passed with 87-40 and no abstentions after nearly nine hours of heated debate. It had the full support of López Obrador’s Morena party and its political allies, as well as most of the senators from the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

Initially sent to the Senate floor in mid-September, the bill was returned to a joint committee in order to “rethink the text of the draft and work on a new one that achieves the consensus of the parliamentary groups that come together in these legislative bodies,” according to a Senate press release.

The joint committee returned the bill to the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon with added “parliamentary controls” on how the armed forces can participate in matters of public safety. Such controls included biannual reports with performance indicators, regular appearances of generals before the Congress, and joint responsibility for the budget between the federal and state governments.

The bill now heads to the Chamber of Deputies, where lawmakers plan to fast-track its approval.

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/mexico- ... -to-2028/

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How Democrats Can Defend Against Republicans’ Soft-on-Crime Attacks
by Nicole Narea
October 18, 2022

Introduction:

(Vox) In their closing arguments to midterm voters, Republican candidates have sought to connect their Democratic opponents to increases in crime and continued to misleadingly hammer Democrats of all stripes as supporters of the “defund the police” movement. It’s the latest rendition of age-old “soft-on-crime” attacks, and it appears to be effective.

Republicans have escalated their attacks on Democrats’ record on crime in a number of Senate races that have tightened in recent weeks. In Wisconsin, Republican incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson has seen a rebound in the polls after his campaign and GOP groups spent more than $4 million on TV ads focused on crime in September alone. Similarly, in Pennsylvania, Republicans have also spent millions criticizing Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman for an increase in commutations and pardons on his watch.

Crime isn’t the only issue on voters’ minds this fall, but it is a big one, with 60 percent of voters saying in an October Politico/Morning Consult poll that crime would play a major role in deciding who they would vote for. Only the economy and abortion were ranked as more important. An October Reuters poll found that more voters think Republicans are better equipped to deal with crime than Democrats.

Democrats have mostly turned against the phrase “defund the police,” with President Joe Biden blaming the slogan for his party’s lackluster performance down the ballot in 2020. But they haven’t managed to deliver a coherent message on public safety in its stead. Part of that stems from the diversity of Democratic voters: Candidates often struggle to make the affirmative case for their platform without alienating the progressive element of their base or potentially persuadable, more moderate voters. But new data from Democratic consultancy groups Change Research and HIT Strategies suggests that it’s not only feasible for Democrats to have a pithy, unified anti-crime message, but actually advisable.

“Democrats really need to approach this head-on and no longer run from it. Voters are receiving fear-based messaging because Democrats haven’t defined our stance,” said Ashley Aylward, a research manager at HIT Strategies.

Read more here: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politic ... messaging

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New Portland Police Oversight Board, Could be Strongest in the Nation and Create a National Model
by Patrick Mazza
December 2, 2022

Introduction:

(Counterpunch) In the Black Lives Matter uprising of summer 2020, no city was more nationally prominent than Portland. Nightly protests drew thousands to the blocks around police headquarters, city hall and the federal courthouse. Donald Trump called Portland “a beehive of anarchists” and dispatched federal troops to the city, only fueling protest numbers. Attorney General Bill Barr designated Portland, along with Seattle and New York, as “anarchist jurisdictions.”

Through the protests, Portland police engaged protesters with batons, rubber bullets, other impact weapons and tear gas. Over 6,000 excessive force complaints were filed with the city. The visible brutality against largely peaceful demonstrators inflamed public opinion against the cops. Advocates for police accountability, long frustrated in their efforts by a oversight process that almost uniformly cleared police of brutality complaints, knew this was their moment. They rapidly assembled an effort to place a measure for a police oversight board with real teeth on the November ballot.

Former City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, spearheaded the effort. Hardesty has long been concerned about horrifying and unpunished incidents of police brutality in her African-American community. She took the proposed measure to City Council, which unanimously put it on the ballot. With broad community backing from political leaders, citizen groups and local media, Measure 26-217 secured an overwhelming victory with 82% of the vote. What they passed is seen as what could be the strongest police oversight system in the nation, and a model for other jurisdictions.

Read more here: https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/12/0 ... al-model/

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San Francisco Rethinks Policy on Police Using Killer Robots
by Paul Sawers
December 7, 2022

Introduction:

(TechCrunch) San Francisco has hit pause on a policy that would allow police officers to use “killer robots” in certain situations that pose a threat to human life.

The controversial plans were initially greenlighted last week by San Francisco’s board of supervisors in a 8-3 vote, sparking a backlash from local residents and activist groups alike. The new policy would essentially permit the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) to place explosives on the 17 robots it holds in its possession (though apparently only 12 of these are “fully functioning”) to remotely neutralize “imminent” threats to police officers or members of the public.

The exact wording read:

The robots listed in this section shall not be utilized outside of training and simulations, criminal apprehensions, critical incidents, exigent circumstances, executing a warrant or during suspicious device assessments. Robots will only be used as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available to SFPD.

It’s worth noting that this specific use of “deadly force” by robots has hitherto not been specifically banned or approved in San Francisco. But by formally codifying such use in law, it was feared that this could escalate and normalize the use of such technology in the future.

Read more here: https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/07/san- ... r-robots/

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Police Traffic Stops Can Alienate Communities and Lead to Violent Deaths Like Tyre Nichols’ – Is It Time to Rethink Them?
by Derek Epp and Megan Dias
February 3, 2023

Introduction:

(The Conversation) The killing of Tyre Nichols has raised questions about the use and risks of a routine part of U.S. policing: the traffic stop.

Nichols died in the hospital on Jan. 10, 2022, from injuries sustained in a beating by five officers three days earlier. The violence occurred after the 29-year-old Black man was pulled over while driving in Memphis, Tennessee. The officers, all of whom are also Black, have since been fired and face charges of second-degree murder.

While not all traffic stops result in violent encounters – indeed studies suggest that relatively few do – the case of Nichols highlights that such encounters can become sites of police violence. And this isn’t an isolated incident. Before Nichols came Patrick Lyoya, Philando Castile and Sandra Bland, to name just a few high-profile cases. All were killed by police in incidents that began with a traffic stop.

We have analyzed a data set of more than 20 million traffic stops as part of research into the effectiveness of this routine part of police life. What we have found is that, even by its own standards, the return on this high-contact form of policing is slim – it rarely leads to criminal charges or convictions. Moreover, the negative consequences are far-reaching. Law enforcement traffic stops are prone to racial bias and cause harm to communities and individuals disproportionate to any benefit that they bring, our research suggests.

Traffic stops represent the most common nonvoluntary interaction between citizens and police officers in the U.S. Every year, around 20 million stops are recorded.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/police-tra ... em-181546