Police have killed more than 1,000 Americans this year – more than any other point in the past decade, according to recent data from Mapping Police Violence.
Given the nation’s recent emphasis on police reform, this should be surprising. Since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, lawmakers have attempted to mitigate police violence by addressing illegal and fatal police tactics. Yet police are still killing about three people a day.
And many of these deaths occur during traffic stops. To protect motorists and police, we need better protocols.
Reform traffic stop procedures
An analysis of Mapping Police Violence’s full database reveals that 730 people have been killed in traffic stops since 2017. For nearly 70% of these deaths, there is no body or dash cam footage.
‘I have three kids with me’:We have a pandemic of poor policing practices on our hands, and lives are at risk. In many cases, the police department responsible refused to provide details or justification. Purported traffic violations account for about 40% of these killings, and almost half of those involved individuals under the influence of drugs, alcohol or with mental illness.
In nearly 430 of these fatal traffic stops, the victim was suspected of carrying a weapon, but in 20% of the cases – that’s more than 80 deaths – the individual turned out to be unarmed.
In about 350 deadly incidents, the officer initiated a traffic stop for unspecified circumstances, or the police department responsible refused to provide details or justification.
To reduce police violence, states need to reform their policies:
Given the number of police killings in instances of nonviolent offenses, more states need to adopt policies to prevent police from pulling over nonthreatening vehicles. Cities such as Los Angles and Philadelphia have passed legislation to end unnecessary traffic stops. (+)