Drop the Traffic Stops
September 22, 2015
America is known as one of the strongest and safest countries in the world, with over one million police officers across the nation “protecting” it. Each and every one of its citizens should feel safe and proud when seeing an officer on duty, but do they really? Chances are we can get a ticket, get prosecuted, or in the worst scenario, get shot.
First of all, the reason why police pull over some reckless drivers, is to keep the community safe for others. However, a few police officers, blinded by racism, have been abusing that privilege causing deaths for some people. Police should be focusing on major crimes and accidents, not picking on innocent people to throw in jail. According to each situation they confront, they should be able to analyze if the driver is really suspected as a criminal or if they just made a simple mistake. Some people may argue that if police officers cut down on traffic stops, there may be more accidents. However, according to the U.S. traffic data, that has never been the case, and accidents rates have always stayed the same whether police gave tickets to drivers or not.
Recent news about African-Americans being killed by police officers for minor traffic violations has been hitting headlines for the past few months, making us question what their real motive is. The main job of a police officer is to keep citizens and their surroundings safe, helping out in disastrous emergencies and responding to 911 calls. While most do their job righteously, some police officers seem to enjoy sticking their noses in people’s business, pulling over cars for minor traffic mistakes that they shouldn’t be focusing on too much. That has been the case for the past decades, but recently it has gotten far worse.
Sandra Bland, an African American woman, was pulled over for not making a signal change and was sent to jail where she died. Walter Scott, an African American man, was stopped for a non-functioning brake-light and was fatally shot. On the other hand, Samuel Dubose, an African American man, was pulled over for not having a front license plate, and was fatally shot also. All three victims lost their lives because of a simple traffic mistake, which could have been avoided if the police officers were less violent. This is totally absurd, for their small traffic mistakes should have never lead to their deaths. Sandra Bland was on her way to a new job, Walter Scott was on his way to an auto shop, and Samuel Dubose, a father of 13 children, was simply just driving without a license plate.
If police cut down on pulling people over for minor traffic mistakes, they could probably save a few lives, and have time to respond to greater emergencies. Americans receive far more traffic stops than most of the busiest countries in the world, with a rate of about 9,900 per 100,000 citizens, according to the LA times. Pulling people over for suspicious acts is understandable, but putting feelings and racism in front, while doing the job is unacceptable. Far more blacks have been killed than any other race for minor traffic stops, and that should stop now.
