Minor police encounters plummet after LAPD put limits on stopping drivers and pedestrians
Updated 9:01 PM ET, Sat March 12, 2014
(CNN) – A man is dead after a motorist tried to run him off the road in a traffic stop that unfolded on two sides of Los Angeles last month, and now police are asking drivers and pedestrians alike to slow down.
But that’s not stopping the police from looking for new ways to crack down.
A few weeks ago, the LAPD laid down a road map for law enforcement: The agency wants to curb drivers who are not complying with traffic stops, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Officers in Los Angeles will now be trained to make a stop when they think it is unwarranted, even if a driver is obeying the rules of the road. The LAPD also will be ordering drivers to slow down, no matter how safe they believe their driving is, or how innocent the vehicle is, according to the paper.
And in other cities across the U.S., police departments are looking to create similar programs.
While the LAPD’s effort will not be limited just to Los Angeles, the move comes amid increased scrutiny over police conduct amid the Ferguson, Missouri and New York City police shootings. The city of Detroit also said it will add more officers to its police force, including a new focus on crowd control.
Police in New York are also seeking to curb traffic stops and say they are being trained to look for passengers on the back of a car, and drivers in a hurry, according to the New York Daily News.
In response to the New York training, officers in Newark, New Jersey have issued a memorandum to encourage stops where cars have been abandoned, and police are telling drivers in Pennsylvania to slow down to 30 miles per hour, or about twice the speed limit.
The move is an attempt to stop speeding, and it follows a New Jersey man who was pulled over for speeding and arrested, accused of drugs possession and failure to stop at a stop sign, according to the Star-Ledger newspaper.
“What we’re asking drivers to do if they are speeding is to pull over to the curb,” Newark Police Capt. John Carlucci said. “By being able to go out and say “hey, I’m going to do some speed enforcement, I
