Berkeley, California's Police Reform Made National News But Still A Work In Progress

By Tom Gantert | The Center Square, The Center Square California

December 21, 2022

(The Center Square) - The city of Berkeley, California, made national news with its police reform efforts last year.

The New York Times reported on Feb. 24, 2021, "Berkeley became what was believed to be the first city in the nation to plan to prohibit police officers from conducting traffic stops and shift that responsibility to unarmed members of a department of transportation."

HuffPost wrote, "Berkeley, California, To End Traffic Stops by Cops for Low-Level Offenses."

"But those characterizations don't appear to be a completely accurate depiction of the city's efforts to reform policing," according to data released by the city on traffic stops and specifics on the new traffic enforcement initiative.

"Data on traffic enforcement within the city over the past four years is not conclusive as to whether the police are conducting fewer traffic stops due to the new policy that went into effect on June 9, 2021," according to the police department.

The police department conducted 9,142 traffic stops in 2019 and then 4,531 in 2020 and 3,149 in 2021 (the first year the new policy was in effect). However, in 2022, the police conducted 2,942 stops through Oct. 23, which puts them on pace for 3,641 for the year, which would exceed the 2021 tally.

The reduction of traffic enforcement stops from 2019 to 2021 is in line with the national trend in police departments due in part to the pandemic.

The number of traffic citations issued by the police department has dropped from 4,852 in 2019, 2,083 in 2020 and 1,716 in 2021. The police have issued 1,539 citations through Oct. 23 in 2022, which puts the on pace to finish with 1,903. That would also exceed the 2021 tally.

"Since stop data has been so impacted by changes in commutes and traffic during the pandemic, it is difficult to draw significant conclusions from our early data," said City Council Member Rigel Robinson in an email to The Center Square. "As always, we want our decisions to be data driven, so will be paying close attention to our numbers in the coming years."

"The city's new enforcement model is a three-pronged approach," according to documents provided by the police department.

Enforcement would be allowed for violations resulting in severe and fatal collisions, including unsafe speed, pedestrian right-of-way at crosswalks, failure to yield for turns, red light violations and stop sign violations.

Police could also respond to calls from community members reporting drunk drivers, a driver that's fallen asleep at a red light, a variety of unsafe driving incidents.

Lesser crimes police could follow up on include "violations that are safety concerns," including seatbelt violations, distracted driving, expired registration that is more than six months, DUI and moving violations.

"The three-pronged approach and associated violations is the approach the Department is encouraging officers to take," said Byron White, the police public information officer, in an email. "We expect our officers to consider this approach and also use their own judgement while on patrol—which includes the full range of CA law."

Robinson said traffic stops were the focus of the city's effort on police reform.

"Any conversation about reimagining public safety is incomplete without a focus on the single most common interaction Americans have with police. That's traffic stops," Robinson said.

Robinson said the city is advocating for the state to "think bigger" on traffic enforcement.

"The vehicle code is currently extremely narrow and prescriptive: traffic enforcement is performed by police officers," Robinson said.

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