SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A new analysis by the ACLU contends Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office deputies spend an exorbitant amount of time pulling over drivers for minor traffic violations, a practice that disproportionately harms Black and brown communities while wasting tens of millions of taxpayer dollars each year.
Roughly two-thirds of time that deputies spend on stops is for traffic violations — namely things like busted tail lights or expired registration tags — according to the report from Catalyst California and the ACLU of Southern California. Those relatively minor violations often serve as a pretext for deputies to pull over drivers suspected of other crimes, the report says, even though there are often no other offenses reported.
Among the deputy-initiated stops for traffic violations, the organizations found approximately 75% of hours are spent on stops that result in a warning or no action at all — something the organizations said undermines law enforcement’s argument that traffic stops are a vital part of keeping the public safe.
