States prohibiting cops from conducting traffic stops are effectively permitting all manner of criminality a free pass to ride on by, victimize innocents down the road, and poison American streets with narcotics.
The notion of any policymaker anywhere to bar law enforcement officers from enforcing the laws, both traffic and criminal, remains preposterous and foolish.
In the specific case of certain states sidelining police officers, this maneuver is a huge disservice to the law-abiding, motoring public who are out and about. Among them are unsafe, uncaring, uninsured operators dead-set on being ahead of the game by employing nefarious means…thanks to the politicos who sold the traffic-stop prohibitions mantra referenced as “reimagining public safety.” Surely, the criminals out there behind the wheel are appreciative.
However, in the public safety-proponent states that honor cops doing police work, criminals are challenged at every turn. Take Florida, for example…
On June 30, 2023, right around noon, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper assigned to the Tampa region was on Interstate-4, an east/west corridor notorious for heavy traffic flows, speedy drivers, road raging operators, and chronic traffic incidents, many tallying fatalities.
Citing a traffic study in 2021, NBC-affiliate station WESH published that Interstate-4’s “stretch between Tampa and Daytona Beach, which is about 130 miles long, averages more than 1.2 deaths per mile.”
The publishers of Automotive-Fleet magazine also recognized I-4’s treachery saying:
“Interstate-4 in Florida ranks as the deadliest highway in the U.S. for the second time in a row, according to a […] five-year analysis by Teletrac Navman, a mobile asset and fleet management software provider, adding that, “from 2016 to 2019, a staggering 150 people were killed there in collisions, including 11 in Orlando alone.”
One fatality weighs heavy, let alone 150 in a given period.
I travel I-4 often enough and see/feel the risks/threats, with troopers, county deputies, and city police officers sharing responsibilities to patrol the interstate. It is death-defying to be in any of the I-4 lanes. I traversed it end-to-end; none of it affords a proverbial Sunday drive.
Imagine if this was in a state that barred cops from conducting traffic stops on obvious violators exhibiting disregard for the rules of the road and every human using it. Yikes!
It is also a habitual artery for drug runners moving products around the Sunshine State, which segues to troopers working the thoroughfare (with ample danger to themselves).
As anyone can remember when they were studying the driver’s manual to acquire a license to operate an automobile, stopping distances are a key point. Too close equals not enough time to stop without colliding with a car or truck out in front. That was the basis for the trooper stopping a car/driver in violation of the state’s Following Too Closely statute.
According to WFLA Tampa, “Troopers reported that the driver and passenger seemed to be ‘overly nervous.’ FHP K-9 Titan was deployed to check out the exterior of the vehicle and reportedly alerted his handler” to the presence of narcotics.
On that note, imagine if Florida was similarly knee-jerky, like some California politicos who sought to delete certified crime-fighting dogs from police ranks.
This is what it looked like:
(Photo courtesy of the Florida Highway Patrol.)
A Florida Highway Patrol spokesperson said, “Following a traffic stop today just after noon, on Interstate 4 near 50th Street for following too closely, FHP Troopers located and arrested 2 men for trafficking 78 pounds of cocaine.”
From other reports I read, the driver disclosed a bag of marijuana from his pockets, claiming that is what K-9 Titan detected. The nose knows differently.
Per Tampa-based reporter Rachel Tucker, Anthony Leon Carroll, 49, and Pablo Villalobos Campos, 61, were both “charged with possession of cocaine, possession with intent to sell, trafficking in cocaine, and possession of drug paraphernalia.” Carroll was also “charged with cannabis possession, keeping a public nuisance structure for drug activity, and owning/renting a structure for purposes of trafficking, selling, or manufacturing a controlled substance.”
Pretty sizable drug bust, thanks to law enforcement officers in a state allowing cops —including certified canines— to do police work. How refreshing to see the basics enforced, leading to a major case amounting to gobs of narcotics not getting spread throughout communities.
(Photo courtesy of the Florida Highway Patrol.)
This is one example of how rudimentary police work can snowball to gargantuan finds of the illicit kind, essentially saving lives and jailing self-serving peddlers profiteering from life-ruining drugs.
Anyone opting to do a ride-along with a law enforcement agency will readily witness many drivers operating carelessly/perilously, often with one or more obvious violations of traffic codes (expired tags, etc.), and the cops unearthing sinister stuff due to conducting traffic stops, all exacerbated by the ubiquity of many more dangers flying by (Move Over Law is a traffic-related statute, not a suggestion).
After my first few years on the police force, Florida’s Department of Transportation rolled out varying traffic safety campaigns. One was titled “Beyond the Tag,” a reference to conducting traffic stops for expired auto tags (license plates). In so doing, LEOs could ensure drivers were valid (licensed, unsuspended) operators and that their vehicle meets all specs (no other traffic violations).
Like many optimizing safety of the motoring public, this campaign focused on road-worthy automobiles and properly-licensed drivers, while also happening upon various criminal offenses such as illicit drugs, weapons, and fugitives from justice locked up once officers run names and locate active warrants for arrest. None of this can be accomplished if cops are benched by broad-brushing policymakers.
For many cops in the United States, serving warrants is a routine matter for any agency’s squads of beat cops or Warrant Unit deputies.
For patrol officers, as time allows (call volume simmers for a spell), seeking out fugitives from justice based on the last known address (noted in warrants) and apprehending them advances the mission of removing absconders from the streets and entering them into the criminal justice system. That means victims will have their day in court after all.
Warrants are abundant, some being served/deleted from the database. Conversely, many more are added after crimes occur and suspects are identified.
Naturally, fugitives get around by driving. In that context, most of the wanted fugitives I came upon and arrested were either a driver or a passenger in an automobile. It is a common denominator for law enforcement officers to access an unserved warrant after identifying fugitives during a traffic stop.
Exponentially, many fugitives from justice have their free-reign end that way, followed by a trip to county jail.
Exponentially, many fugitives get to enjoy additional time on the lam due to those jurisdictions with the idiotic policy of prohibiting cops from stopping cars for violations of law(s).
We’ll never have enough cops to effectively combat criminal elements. The stats that come out each year stem from crimes documented by law enforcement officers who respond, investigate, and submit details. A truer tally will never be remotely tangible if police professionals are prohibited from doing their job.
One last thing, Mr. Campos was listed as a flight risk on the arrest report, since he is not a U.S. citizen, per the Florida trooper who conducted this traffic stop leading to a major find.