Standard Question Becomes Off-Limits in California Stops

A new California law intended to prevent escalation when a law enforcement officer stops a driver prohibits a long-standard question. Officers will now have to immediately tell the driver the reason for the stop, the Hill reports, instead of asking, "Do you know why I pulled you over?" The legislation was approved to combat "pretextual stops," in which an officer pulls someone over for a possible minor violation with the goal of conducting a search for a less minor problem, such as expired documents. The law, which took effect Monday, applies to stops of pedestrians as well as drivers.

A driver's answer can shape the conversation with officers, one lawyer said, in a way that increases tensions. "These open-ended inquiries sometimes do reveal a lot of information and result in an escalation of a situation that could have been triggered by something as simple as some equipment defect, a broken taillight, for example," Dan Eaton told KNSD. The measure provides for skipping the new step if the officers consider it necessary "to protect life or property from imminent threat," per the Hill. "If they have to tell you why they stopped you, it will be harder for them to stop you for no reason, so I think that's good, productive and really important," one driver said. (More traffic stop stories.)