It's bad enough that you get that feeling of that gut punch when you look up and see the flashing lights in your rearview mirror. The feeling of danger gets worse when a cop's next moves make him safer, but make you feel like a perp. There's the special parking job in which the officer places their vehicle at that certain angle behind your car, and then, while the officer approaches, checks you out in your side mirror to see what you, now the perp, are doing inside the cockpit. If you're smart, you make no sudden moves, display your empty hands on the steering wheel, and then wait for the officer's inevitable question: "Do you know why I pulled you over?"
The good news is that, starting in 2024, California law enforcement may not open a conversation with those words. The left, good at disappearing, censoring, and outlawing words, has now outlawed the question that has opened many an uncomfortable conversation with police. And, for once, they've done a good thing with this move.
Under a new law passed by the California state legislature, the cop must tell a driver the specific reason why they pulled you over. This is a civil rights win for everyone.
The California lawmakers who passed this bill did it out of a concern for so-called equity. What losers. It appears these nincompoops believe that only people of color/ethnicity/LGBT+/and all other protected groups feel cornered when cops ask this question. I bring you lefties a truth from the mountaintop: everyone feels cornered by this question.
Both the innocent and guilty alike hate answering the question. If you offer a reason, you admit to committing an offense. If you say no, you tick off the cop (according to what cops tell me). And you can't elide the question by joking, "you pulled me over because I've got a body in my trunk?" That one will get you yanked out of a car faster than you can say "spread 'em."
You're not obligated to tell a cop the truth at that first stop, which most people don't know (and for more of this kind of information please see the video below that will change your life, "Don't Talk to the Police"), but the net effect of this question is it puts an individual on the spot for compromising their Fifth Amendment right to not testify against themselves. It may or may not be binding, but most people don't know that.
Furthermore, the bill requires police agencies to write down on the ticket why they pulled someone over, according to the bill's text.
This bill would, beginning on January 1, 2024, require a peace officer making a traffic or pedestrian stop, before engaging in questioning related to a criminal investigation or traffic violation, to state the reason for the stop, unless the officer reasonably believes that withholding the reason for the stop is necessary to protect life or property from imminent threat. The bill would, beginning on January 1, 2024, require the officer to document the reason for the stop on any citation or police report resulting from the stop.
All cop shops have to keep track of the date and time of the stop, why the officer stopped the person if they asked to search the driver or car, the citation given, and if an arrest was made.
There's also a no-win question for police officers to answer which may turn this into a futile exercise for the left. No win because cops probably won't answer honestly.
[What is] The perceived race or ethnicity, gender, and approximate age of the person stopped, provided that the identification of these characteristics shall be based on the observation and perception of the peace officer making the stop, and the information shall not be requested from the person stopped. For motor vehicle stops, this paragraph only applies to the driver..." [emphasis added]
It will be interesting to see what police unions do with that perceived race question. The only right answer for the left will be "white." We'll see how the real-world stats shake out on this. Good luck with that one, statisticians.
Assemblymember Chris Holden, who authored AB 2773, says he believes the new rules will cut down on pretextual police stops. As a person who's been pulled over on pretextual stops before, and as a civil libertarian, I'm all for that.
California got one mostly right. Will wonders never cease?
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