DULUTH — The city’s police department has reached an agreement with community activists on a draft policy that could eliminate many minor traffic and pedestrian stops.

The Duluth Branch of the NAACP on Friday called it an “amazing victory” in a years-long effort to reform police practices and end “pretextual stops.”

“This language states that an equipment violation can only occur when there is a direct threat to public safety,” said Jamey Sharp, co-chair of the Criminal Justice Committee. “This means you cannot be pulled over for a license plate light that is out. That is not a direct threat to public safety. Or a small object hanging from your mirror that is not obstructing your view. Or when you are walking home from the grocery store with a bag in your hand. That is the language that we’re very excited about within this policy.”

The agreement comes less than three months after a racial bias audit found “statistically significant racial and ethnic disparities in vehicle stops as compared to a residential population benchmark.”

The report also concluded that people of color are more likely to be stopped for equipment violations or suspicious activity, more likely to be searched and more likely to receive harsher penalties.

Under the draft policy, officers would be required to articulate the public safety reason for any equipment-related stops. They also would need to limit it to “the original legal basis for the stop, unless the officer develops reasonable articulate suspicion or probable cause of criminal activity that would justify extending the duration or expanding the scope of the stop.”

And while officers are allowed to rely on their training, experience and expertise, the language specifically forbids expansion of stops based on “a mere hunch, whim or solely on generalized characteristics such as the person’s age, gender, race, homeless circumstance or presence in a high-crime location.”

“A pretextual stop, in my definition, is a tax on the poor,” said Classie Dudley, president of the Duluth NAACP. “It’s really when somebody has expired tabs or a broken windshield. That is not a public safety violation, They’re getting pulled over, ticketed and fined. People who already can’t afford to fix their cars now are having to pay a fine on top of that. And those fines can escalate to getting your license suspended, jail time and more.”

Duluth police spokeswoman Mattie Hjelseth stressed that the policy is still a draft and “will serve as a framework for community conversations.” The department has been working the NAACP, Citizen Review Board, racial bias audit team and others to implement changes recommended by the audit released in August.

A community conversation is scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 14 at the American Indian Community Housing Organization, 202 W. Second St.

“We look forward to this conversation with the community and members of DPD as we work together to create a safer Duluth for all,” Chief Mike Ceynowa said in a statement. “We are hopeful that this exercise around policy creation will help continue to build trust between the community and the Duluth Police Department.”

NAACP leaders, however, said they engaged in a back-and-forth draft process and have received assurances that the department plans to implement the new policy by Jan. 1.

Sharp said they would have preferred more specific language around the types of stops that are forbidden, but “largely, we are happy with it.”

“We did, ultimately, accept this draft as we believe it is important to complete this project before the political tides shift,” he said. “Also, the completion of this project, more importantly, will ultimately serve as harm reduction, which is direly needed to combat the racially disparate traffic and pedestrian stop rates that have plagued this community for years.”

Dudley added that the NAACP stands ready to enforce the policy through monitoring, data analysis and public outreach efforts.

Source : Duluth News Tribune

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