Philadelphia will become the first major city in the U.S. to ban police officers from making low-level traffic stops.
Mayor Jim Kenney will sign an executive order this week to enact the “Driving Equality” law, according to NBC News.
Police officers will not be allowed to stop drivers for things that aren’t an imminent risk to public safety. That includes broken taillights or expired registration.
The Driving Equality Bill, which was drafted after negotiations with the police department, is meant to prevent racial disparities within policing.
“We need to rethink police-community relations in a way that does not infringe on public safety. I believe that my Driving Equality Agenda does just that,” said Councilmember Isaiah Thomas in a June statement.
According to CNN, Black drivers accounted for 72% of the nearly 310,000 traffic stops by police officers between October 2018 and September 2019.
