The Hennepin County attorney's new policy not to prosecute felonies from routine traffic stops was heavily criticized today by area police chiefs.
Words like 'reckless, harmful, and overreach' were thrown out by members of the Chiefs of Police Association when reacting to the new policy, announced by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty this wee, and expected to go into effect Oct. 15.
Minnetonka Police Chief Scott Boerboom says they weren't involved in forming the new standards.
"Just two weeks ago, a a public meeting, we asked the county attorney's office if they were developing this policy," Boerboom explained. "We were told there were no updates. We stressed then and we stressed today the importance of working together, communicating openly, and of ensuring that the voices of law enforcement and our communities are included in these discussions. Once again we were ignored."
Hennepin County Sheriff Dewanna Witt says with the recent acts of violence in Hennepin County, now is not the time to lower standards.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara, who was not at Friday's press conference, said this policy by Hennepin County won't really affect them due to a consent decree with the state that prohibits those kinds of stops, plus a department policy that has limited them since before he became chief.
"They were prohibited, they represented a very, very, very small percentage of the traffic stops that were being made here when I first became chief," O'Hara told WCCO's Chad Hartman. "So I think it's largely a non-issue for us."
O'Hara did say at the time he expected other departments to react differently, which was definitely the case Friday morning.
"I want to point out, a page of Wednesday's Star Tribune headline," Sheriff Witt said. "12 shot in Minneapolis in the span of 12 hours. With that amount of violence our area has endured over the last few months, now is not the time to lower the standards for public safety."
Witt also called it a "reckless overreach" and said this policy would embolden criminals.
"We're not supposed to chase them. We're not supposed to pull them over. Criminals are paying attention people," Witt added.
There reportedly has been no contact between the police chiefs and the county attorney since it was made public on Wednesday.
Boerboom says the new policy doesn’t recognize that every community in Hennepin County is different, and that the standards make it harder to do their jobs.
A similar policy is already in effect in Ramsey County.
Moriarty says data shows that these types of stops are "not worth the cost." She says studies indicate 99% of those stops fail to recover any contraband, which O'Hara did corroborate on WCCO's Chad Hartman Show this week.
Moriarty said this policy change aims to end a tactic that she says has been shown to harm communities.
The infractions include failure to display tabs or expired tabs, not illuminating a license plate or a partially obscured plate, broken headlights, brake lights or taillights, missing the side mirror or rearview mirror, items dangling from the rearview mirror, broken wipers, failure to signal a turn or lane change, a cracked windshield, and excessive window tint.
That means an officer that pulls over a driver for these issues, and finds other criminal behavior such as illegal possession of drugs or guns, the County Attorney would decline to prosecute the case.