When acting on their own discretion, Pennsylvania State Police are more likely to search Black and Hispanic drivers than white drivers, according to an independent study by the National Policing Institute.
The law, which also requires city police to gather and publicly release data on traffic stops, goes into effect early next year.
Philadelphia’s mayor has ordered police to stop pulling over drivers for low-level offenses that critics say lead to disproportionate stops of minority drivers. Mayor Jim Kenney’s order Wednesday makes Philadelphia the largest city government in the U.S. to ban what are sometimes called pretextual stops.
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced an investigation into whether there has been an unlawful pattern of misconduct with these particular officers or more broadly with the Windsor Police Department.
The complaint alleges that the officers’ behavior is “consistent with a disgusting nationwide trend of law enforcement officers, who, believing they can operate with complete impunity, engage in unprofessional, discourteous, racially biased, dangerous, and sometimes deadly abuses of authority.”
