While most of us were enjoying our Christmas holiday, David Johnson was pulled over by the Davis police department yet again. It was the second time in two months and over 10 times in the last two years alone.
He was driving his vehicle south bound on Poleline Road towards Safeway when he saw an officer driving north bound, the officer spotted his vehicle, made a u-turn, and eventually pulled over Johnson. The reason given for the traffic stop was a loud muffler. Johnson received a fix-it ticket and was allowed to go about his way.
Did Mr. Johnson have a loud muffler? Yes he did.
Was it likely that a police officer with his window rolled up several car lengths away could hear it? No it wasn’t.
The video clip that you are about to watch focuses on a specific portion of the incident. Mr. Johnson asked for the Sergeant on duty to come talk to him. Johnson very asks about two very important factors.
First, his previous ticket was an obstructed rear license plate. Johnson had been pulled over by Officer Beasley in this incident. However, the CHP had signed off on the license plate being legal. Johnson asks the Sergeant in this incident if his license plate was obstructed. The Sergeant explains that he wasn’t there at the time and didn’t see the what officer saw and that moreover, some officers specialize in different areas of the law than other officers.
The Sergeant never did answer Mr. Johnson’s question to whether or not he thought the license plate is obstructed.
The second and perhaps most telling part of the exchange had to do with the current vehicle violation—the loud muffler. Again, the Sergeant refuses to answer the question about whether the noise was audible through a closed window at distance. But more importantly, another vehicle drives by and they have a loud muffler as well. When Johnson asks him, the Sergeant explains that it would not be "feasible" be to pull over every car with a loud muffler and asked rhetorically if Johnson realized how few officers are on duty--four he states under his breath.
This of course begs the question—with limited resources, why is a police officer pulling over a motorist for a non-moving violation?
This gets into the heart of the charge of racial profiling. As I have become more and more familiar with these types of incidents a very clear picture is emerging. What is happening is basically a “phishing” exercise.
A police officer spots a vehicle that does not appear to belong. It may be an older vehicle in poor condition. It possibly may be the race of the driver. The more I see it is probably the vehicle more than the driver, although I’ve heard of wealthy black people pulled over on such stops.
Regardless, the police officer once identifying the vehicle, then needs a reason or pretense to stop the vehicle. Two months ago it was an obstructed license plate (and let me tell you, there was no obstruction) and on December 26, 2006 it was a loud muffler (and he did indeed have a loud muffler). Often these kind of stops they pull them over for something that did not happen and then never even write a ticket.
What they are then looking for is an outstanding warrant, drugs, weapons, or something big. So they use the traffic stop as a pretense to see if this person is a criminal and once they determine that the person is not a criminal, they treat them well and let them go.
This is a source of great frustration for members of the minority community and Mr. Johnson in particular. Unfortunately, while this video will be turned over to the Ombudsman, there is nothing on this that is a smoking gun. So all this becomes is more background information. The leadership in this city and the police department need to be proactive and change the way the department searches for criminals. Until that happens, these incidents will continue to occur and more and more people will be frustrated.
---Doug Paul Davis reporting
He was driving his vehicle south bound on Poleline Road towards Safeway when he saw an officer driving north bound, the officer spotted his vehicle, made a u-turn, and eventually pulled over Johnson. The reason given for the traffic stop was a loud muffler. Johnson received a fix-it ticket and was allowed to go about his way.
Did Mr. Johnson have a loud muffler? Yes he did.
Was it likely that a police officer with his window rolled up several car lengths away could hear it? No it wasn’t.
The video clip that you are about to watch focuses on a specific portion of the incident. Mr. Johnson asked for the Sergeant on duty to come talk to him. Johnson very asks about two very important factors.
First, his previous ticket was an obstructed rear license plate. Johnson had been pulled over by Officer Beasley in this incident. However, the CHP had signed off on the license plate being legal. Johnson asks the Sergeant in this incident if his license plate was obstructed. The Sergeant explains that he wasn’t there at the time and didn’t see the what officer saw and that moreover, some officers specialize in different areas of the law than other officers.
The Sergeant never did answer Mr. Johnson’s question to whether or not he thought the license plate is obstructed.
The second and perhaps most telling part of the exchange had to do with the current vehicle violation—the loud muffler. Again, the Sergeant refuses to answer the question about whether the noise was audible through a closed window at distance. But more importantly, another vehicle drives by and they have a loud muffler as well. When Johnson asks him, the Sergeant explains that it would not be "feasible" be to pull over every car with a loud muffler and asked rhetorically if Johnson realized how few officers are on duty--four he states under his breath.
This of course begs the question—with limited resources, why is a police officer pulling over a motorist for a non-moving violation?
This gets into the heart of the charge of racial profiling. As I have become more and more familiar with these types of incidents a very clear picture is emerging. What is happening is basically a “phishing” exercise.
A police officer spots a vehicle that does not appear to belong. It may be an older vehicle in poor condition. It possibly may be the race of the driver. The more I see it is probably the vehicle more than the driver, although I’ve heard of wealthy black people pulled over on such stops.
Regardless, the police officer once identifying the vehicle, then needs a reason or pretense to stop the vehicle. Two months ago it was an obstructed license plate (and let me tell you, there was no obstruction) and on December 26, 2006 it was a loud muffler (and he did indeed have a loud muffler). Often these kind of stops they pull them over for something that did not happen and then never even write a ticket.
What they are then looking for is an outstanding warrant, drugs, weapons, or something big. So they use the traffic stop as a pretense to see if this person is a criminal and once they determine that the person is not a criminal, they treat them well and let them go.
This is a source of great frustration for members of the minority community and Mr. Johnson in particular. Unfortunately, while this video will be turned over to the Ombudsman, there is nothing on this that is a smoking gun. So all this becomes is more background information. The leadership in this city and the police department need to be proactive and change the way the department searches for criminals. Until that happens, these incidents will continue to occur and more and more people will be frustrated.
---Doug Paul Davis reporting
