Thursday, September 09, 2021
PMT: John Choi and good change
One of my local heroes is Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, who has brought a true progressive view to St. Paul. Yesterday, he announced a new policy: That his office will no longer prosecute cases that result from low-level traffic stops (ie, a broken taillight).
This might seem like no big deal, but it is a big deal. Pretext stops-- pulling over people who seem "suspicious" for minor issues in order to search their car-- is a major driver of racial disparities, since black and brown people are much more likely to seem "suspicious." Declining cases based on such stops removes the motive to make them in the first place.
To be sure, most such stops don't turn up evidence of a felony offense, anyways. I think this is a great development; the question will be how many others follow his lead.
