Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office says if you are a driver and you commit a minor traffic violation, such as driving with a revoked license, having a tail light out, or an inspection violation, they will no longer be pulling you over.
According to the sheriff’s office, it’s all an effort to address racial inequality in Mecklenburg, North Carolina.
Activists pat the sheriff’s office on the back for the decision. One activist says deputies use minor violations to profile Black and Hispanic residents.
According to Robert Dawkins with Action NC, traffic violations can be a financial blow to low-income residents.
Mecklenburg sheriff’s office said they will continue to pull over people for serious moving violations.
According to an analysis of 2016 data from North Carolina courts by the university of South Carolina’s political science department, Black Americans in North Carolina are 95% more likely to be stopped on the road compared to other racial groups.
In addition, Black people were 115% more likely than white people to be searched in a traffic stop, even though white people were more likely to have contraband on them, the analysis says.
Dawkins said now that the Mecklenburg sheriff’s office has made this decision after they have kept pushing for it, he hopes other police departments will follow in their footsteps.
