Berkeley moves toward removing police from traffic stops The city of Berkeley, California, is moving ahead with a proposal to replace police with unarmed civilians to conduct traffic stopsSAN FRANCISCO -- The city of Berkeley, California, moved forward Wednesday with a proposal to eliminate police from conducting traffic stops and instead use unarmed civilian city workers as part of a broad overhaul of law enforcement. The City Council also set a goal of cutting the police budget by 50%. In a joint statement, the police unions for Los Angeles, San Jose and San Francisco said that reckless driving, speeding, driving while under the influence are all dangerous “traffic” enforcement violations. "Traffic stops are some of the most dangerous actions police officers take. Yet African-Americans accounted for half of 608 traffic stops conducted by police between mid-March and mid-June this year, according to a City Council memo.

Source: ABC News July 15, 2020 15:06 UTC