Oakland activists want to take traffic control away from cops

A local activist group in Auckland is calling for dramatic change. They want to take traffic enforcement out of police departments across the state.

“This is very important,” said Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police Terror Project (APTP). “It’s literally life and death.”

They took to the streets this weekend to protest the murder of Tyre Nichols in Memphis during a traffic stop, and now the group is calling for sweeping changes at home.

“Stops are one of the main ways that blacks and browns get entangled in the legal system, and when we get entangled, it’s very hard for us to get out,” Brooks said. “They are also often insights into daily and deadly acts of violence.”

Brooks is working with legislators and organizations across California to propose a bill to stop police from stopping traffic. Instead, a separate, unarmed agency would be tasked with enforcing traffic laws.

The implementation will look different in different parts of the state, but will include people trained in desecration and self-defense.

This proposal was criticized by law enforcement at the national level as dangerous. Many critics argue that traffic stops are the key to solving much bigger cases.

“I know the response will be, ‘Well, what about violent people; I just need people to know that this is a rare occurrence,” Brooks said.

Similar proposals have been made before. San Francisco is still working out the details after their police commission voted this month to ban police from making multiple low-traffic stops.

In Berkeley, the city voted to have traffic control transferred to another agency in 2021. However, until state law is changed, officers still have the ability to enforce the law for any violation.

“We are literally talking about amending the state constitution,” Brooks said.

This proposal has been in preparation for two years. APTP believes that making changes will save lives.

They say they expect to see movement in the coming weeks and hope it will eventually spread across the country.

“This conversation about the civilization of law enforcement actions, which often escalate and lead to violence, continues, it escalates,” Brooks said.

NBC Bay Area contacted several law enforcement agencies, police commissions and cities across the Bay Area, but all declined to comment.