Better, more humane traffic stops in Ramsey County

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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Ramsey County Attorney John Choi took a chance a few years ago, betting that a controversial change regarding which motor vehicle cases to prosecute would pay off.

Commendably, data released this month shows that it has succeeded beyond expectations, freeing up police resources to go after more meaningful traffic violations, reducing the fear and sometimes terror experienced disproportionately by Black motorists and creating a more humane approach that helps motorists of limited means stay on the road.

What Choi did may not seem revolutionary. The data on police stops for drivers' equipment violations — the busted taillight, the expired license tab — was overwhelming. It showed that most stops yielded routine tickets, nothing more, but the racial disparities in who got stopped were undeniable. The racial breakdown in Ramsey County, Choi told an editorial writer, was nine Black motorists stopped and subjected to a vehicle search for every one white motorist.

Choi worked closely with law enforcement agencies, such as police departments in St. Paul, Roseville and other cities, to make the change. "The chiefs did most of the real work," he said, "and it wasn't easy. They had to go to roll calls, talk to officers about the new policy, deal with pushback."

Then-St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell sent a directive to all officers, Choi said, that said they would be de-emphasizing equipment stops to focus more on traffic violations that matter. "Maplewood did something similar," Choi said, as did St. Anthony. "Roseville put a formal policy in their police manual," he said. "[Roseville] Police Chief Erika Scheider was the first chief to make that change in Minnesota."

Choi quickly noted that if an officer believes they must stop a vehicle, "they still can. We charged three cases last year." One such stop, he said, interrupted an auto theft in progress. Another turned up an ineligible individual in possession of a handgun. "I said from the beginning, if this in any way endangers public safety, we'll stop," Choi said.

But he knew from earlier research that the "hit rate" from equipment stops was extraordinarily low. Research in Ramsey County, he said, revealed such stops led to more serious charges less than 1% of the time. "Why would we continue a policy with a 1% effectiveness rate?" he said.

The policy change confirmed Choi's expectations. In St. Paul alone, stops for equipment violations dropped more than 20 percentage points in a year, from 25.8% of all stops to just a little over 4%. That presumably freed up enough time and resources that officers could increase stops for more serious moving violations from 68% to 88%. The department went from equipment stops in which 55% were Black motorists, to the following year when they made up just 18.5%.

Tellingly, research by the Justice Innovation Lab, which spanned four years and more than 200,000 stops, showed that other police departments that did not make those types of changes made little progress on racial disparities.

Akhi Johnson, a director at the Vera Institute for Justice, which works to improve public safety and justice systems, recently told the Star Tribune that the policy developed in Ramsey County could be a model for the nation.

That's because the racial disparities problem is not limited to Minnesota, or even the Midwest. A look at 14 years of traffic stop data in North Carolina showed that Black drivers were 63% more likely to be stopped. They also were far more likely to be searched, even though white drivers were more likely to have contraband. Other studies in other parts of the country have documented similar disparities.

Choi said he and some departments have partnered with an organization called "Lights On!" to send drivers who may lack the finances a voucher for equipment repair. "That turns a potentially negative experience into a positive," Choi said. "It's a win-win. People wind up thanking us for noticing."

Choi said he plans to get other agencies on board and said the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department and police in New Brighton and North St. Paul have all expressed strong interest.

The changes led by Choi and the county highlight that when prosecutors, law enforcement and community partners come together, they can produce real, innovative change that improves public safety, better uses scarce resources and puts citizens first.