Stop Sending Texans to Jail For Minor Traffic Violations
- by: Just Liberty
- recipient: Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw
Failure to signal a lane change to rolling through a red light to an outdated inspection sticker, these offenses are typically quite minor. But did you know Texas law lets police arrest people for these fine-only offenses and take them to jail?
People who are arrested for something as innocuous as a minor traffic violation are humiliated, traumatized, and often stigmatized among their neighbors, family, and friends.
This power has led to abuse and is a waste of public-safety dollars. According to public arrest data, thousands of Texans get arrested and booked each year on Class C misdemeanor traffic charges for which jail is NOT an allowable punishment.
The DPS can make traffic stops safer for both officers and drivers – and reinstate the civil liberties we believe in – by limiting arrests for non-jailable offenses. And, this reform won't stop officers from investigating other crimes, but it will reduce needless arrests.
Sign the petition today and urge the Department of Public Safety to work with agency legal staff and develop a new policy for DPS troopers to reduce arrests for non-jailable infractions.
People who are arrested for something as innocuous as a minor traffic violation are humiliated, traumatized, and often stigmatized among their neighbors, family, and friends.
This power has led to abuse and is a waste of public-safety dollars. According to public arrest data, thousands of Texans get arrested and booked each year on Class C misdemeanor traffic charges for which jail is NOT an allowable punishment.
The DPS can make traffic stops safer for both officers and drivers – and reinstate the civil liberties we believe in – by limiting arrests for non-jailable offenses. And, this reform won't stop officers from investigating other crimes, but it will reduce needless arrests.
Sign the petition today and urge the Department of Public Safety to work with agency legal staff and develop a new policy for DPS troopers to reduce arrests for non-jailable infractions.
Subject: End unnecessary arrests for fine-only traffic offenses
Director McCraw,
I'm writing to ask you to support Just Liberty's request for DPS rule making to end unnecessary arrests for fine-only traffic offenses. Arresting people at traffic stops is costly as well as dangerous. When Texans believe their rights are being violated, they sometimes resist verbally or even physically. Limiting those situations to more serious offenses protects everyone.
When a failure to signal a lane change results in an arrest, drivers are justly frightened and confused. Instead of going to pick up our kids from school, get to work, or care for our elderly parents, we are booked into jail and held for hours for a petty offense. That moment when a routine roadside stop turns into an arrest is critical, and all too often ends in an avoidable altercation or exchange.
Our constitutional rights and the safety of our police officers are aligned. When we know our rights as citizens, and officers respect those rights, everyone goes home to their families at the end of a simple traffic stop. If all you have done is violate a traffic law, your consequence should be a traffic ticket!
You have the ability to put forth policies that enables police to still arrest individuals who are in possession of illegal weapons (like Timothy McVeigh) or who are committing other more serious crimes. A driver who is not in breach of the peace or presenting some danger will not be arrested. Local jurisdictions will create local policies with respect to warrantless arrest on non-jailable offenses in order to ensure clarity for officers and the public.
You can make traffic stops safer for both officers and drivers, and reinstate the civil liberties we believe in, by supporting Just Liberty's proposed rule to limit arrests for non-jailable traffic offenses when the individual poses no further threat to public safety.
[Your Comment]
Respectfully,
[Your Name]
Sign PetitionSign PetitionDirector McCraw,
I'm writing to ask you to support Just Liberty's request for DPS rule making to end unnecessary arrests for fine-only traffic offenses. Arresting people at traffic stops is costly as well as dangerous. When Texans believe their rights are being violated, they sometimes resist verbally or even physically. Limiting those situations to more serious offenses protects everyone.
When a failure to signal a lane change results in an arrest, drivers are justly frightened and confused. Instead of going to pick up our kids from school, get to work, or care for our elderly parents, we are booked into jail and held for hours for a petty offense. That moment when a routine roadside stop turns into an arrest is critical, and all too often ends in an avoidable altercation or exchange.
Our constitutional rights and the safety of our police officers are aligned. When we know our rights as citizens, and officers respect those rights, everyone goes home to their families at the end of a simple traffic stop. If all you have done is violate a traffic law, your consequence should be a traffic ticket!
You have the ability to put forth policies that enables police to still arrest individuals who are in possession of illegal weapons (like Timothy McVeigh) or who are committing other more serious crimes. A driver who is not in breach of the peace or presenting some danger will not be arrested. Local jurisdictions will create local policies with respect to warrantless arrest on non-jailable offenses in order to ensure clarity for officers and the public.
You can make traffic stops safer for both officers and drivers, and reinstate the civil liberties we believe in, by supporting Just Liberty's proposed rule to limit arrests for non-jailable traffic offenses when the individual poses no further threat to public safety.
[Your Comment]
Respectfully,
[Your Name]
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