Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and some law enforcement leaders announced Wednesday a shift in traffic stops for minor infractions: St. Paul’s chief told officers not to pull people for equipment violations unless there are public safety concerns. And Choi said he won’t prosecute most felony cases that result from non-public-safety traffic stops.
Choi said the change is overdue because drivers of color and people who can’t afford to make repairs are disproportionately affected by such traffic stops. In addition to breeding distrust, Choi said research shows that police find guns or drugs in less than 2 percent of pretextual stops — when police stop a driver for an equipment violation to seek evidence of a more serious crime......
......The Ramsey County Deputies’ Federation said in a Wednesday statement that Choi’s policy change is an example of him “circumventing the legislative process to satisfy his own political ambitions.”
“The continued use of the term ‘pre-textual traffic stop’ is a loaded and weighted term to negatively portray officers who make valid traffic stops based on violations of the law,” the statement continued. “To unilaterally decriminalize illegal activity discovered pursuant to a legal traffic stop is a betrayal of the office of county attorney and sends a strong signal to those engaged in criminal activity that they can do so with impunity.”
Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, who chairs the state Senate Public Safety and Judiciary Committee, also said “the public should be outraged” by the policy change announced Wednesday by Choi.