It’s a common tactic: a police officer gets a hunch about a vehicle, uses a minor traffic violation to pull it over and questions the driver about their travels, checking out suspicions that have nothing to do with traffic safety. In states around the country, officials are reconsidering whether it’s a good idea. It’s unclear if New Hampshire safety officials are following suit.
Examining racial bias when police make stops based on suspicions
N.H. State Trooper Haden Wilber was stationed on Interstate 95 in Hampton one afternoon in February 2019 when he began following a car he found suspicious, a Toyota Camry with tinted windows and Connecticut plates.
“The vehicle had drawn my attention to it due to how clean it was, given the age of the vehicle and current weather conditions in New England,” Wilber wrote in a police report.
‘Why did I get stopped?’ -- State police use minor traffic violations to search for drugs
State Commission Makes Recommendations on Pretextual Stops
[Pretextual stops are] when an officer pulls over a motorist for a minor traffic or equipment violation and proceeds to investigate more serious crimes, usually drug related. Many in law enforcement insist the stops are useful for investigating a variety of crimes, especially drug trafficking, while civil rights and racial justice advocates say the stops disproportionately target people of color.
The issue of pretextual stops was front and center in the deliberations of a commission appointed by Gov. Chris Sununu over the summer, tasked with improving law enforcement accountability and transparency after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.