Andrew Kerr of the Washington Free Beacon documents another bad idea from the current presidential administration.
Criminals opened fire on at least 134 police officers during routine traffic stops from 2021 through 2023, federal data show. Now, an equity commission convened by the Biden-Harris administration wants to spend $20 million on a pilot program that would deploy unarmed cops to conduct traffic enforcement.
The Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity, an Obama-era body revived by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg last year, said in a report released this month that cops don’t need to carry guns or tasers with them when out on the streets enforcing traffic laws. The commission, whose membership includes an activist who once said cars perpetuate “systemic racism,” urged the federal government to spend $20 million developing a pilot program to “test the use of non-lethal, perhaps non-police traffic enforcement.”
“Citing a driver for having a broken taillight, forgetting to use a turn signal, or even failing to stop at a stop sign, does not require the use of a gun, taser, or similar tool,” the commission said.
The data suggest otherwise. In fact, traffic stops are one of the most dangerous aspects of a police officer’s job, according to Justice Department statistics.
Routine traffic stops have been the third-deadliest out of 11 commonly performed police activities since the start of the Biden-Harris administration in January 2021, according to annual reports compiled by the Justice Department. At least 134 police officers have been shot at during traffic stops during the Biden-Harris administration, 23 of whom lost their lives.
The commission’s recommendation to the Biden-Harris administration to disarm traffic cops could cause headaches for Vice President Kamala Harris, who in 2020 praised the “defund the police” movement but is now presenting herself to voters as a tough-on-crime former prosecutor. The Transportation Department did not return a request for commen
