For years, the City of Greensboro has been having a long discussion – and been putting a lot of attention into – the questions of when Greensboro police officers should or should not pull someone.
On Tuesday, June 10, Greensboro’s Criminal Justice Advisory Committee, and Human Rights Commission – together with the City’s Community Safety and Police departments – will present a “Traffic Stop Policy Panel Discussion and Community Conversation.”
That will run from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and be held at the Barber Park Event Center at 1502 Barber Park Dr. in Greensboro.
City officials are describing the discussion as a “family-friendly event” that will feature “a panel discussion among local leaders, policy experts, and law enforcement officials about Greensboro’s traffic stop policies.”
The topics discussed will include existing traffic stop policies and procedures, community concerns and experiences, and transparency and accountability.
The panel will also talk about ideas for enhancing public safety and trust.
Following the discussion, attendees will be able to take part in a question-and-answer session as well as a community dialogue.
The goal of the event is “to foster mutual understanding and identify actionable steps forward.”
Light refreshments will be served.
You can register to attend and direct questions to the Human Rights Department at engagement@greensboro-nc.gov or call 336-373-7980.
The Greensboro Criminal Justice Advisory Commission is made up of nine City Council-appointed residents and it’s tasked with a wide range of objectives that are part of the justice continuum.
For instance, it serves to:
- Identify, address, and monitor issues
- Educate and advocate for the public through forums on justice-related topics and study trends in policing strategies within the Greensboro Police Department
- Provide perspective on policies that affect the public’s interaction with law enforcement.
You can learn more about it at www.greensboro-nc.gov/GCJAC.
The Human Rights Commission is meant to promote “mutual understanding, respect, and fair treatment of all Greensboro residents regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, or familial status.”
Information about that commission can be found at www.greensboro-nc.gov/hrc.
I drive about 30,000 miles a year in my job, and much of it in Greensboro. In recent years I have noticed many more cars with expired stickers on their tags. This is predominantly in South/Southeast Greensboro. Presumably, these vehicles also lack insurance.
Why are they not being pulled over?
Cause not guilty guilford county courts do nothing about it. The officer that pulls them over has to waste time doing paperwork and sit in court for the day watching them get a slap on the wrist.
losing a day’s work or fun sitting in court is more than a slap on wrist.
Really good question Al. I see the same thing, it seems that the respect for following the law has gone to hell, started after george floyd and blm. Drivers in Greensboro are just plain rude and don’t give a rats butt about anyone else.
Especially true of black drivers
It’s a complicated answer that starts with the Ferguson incident and leading up through George Floyd and COVID. After Ferguson, public sentiment surrounding police took a down turn. Then King Dummy, police chief Wayne Scott, foolishly did an article with the NY Times that led to a radical change in GPD traffic stop policies. I think I read that they couldn’t do stops for equipment violations or something to that effect.
Then other events occurred, culminating in Floyd and COVID hitting at roughly the same time. Police had already been doing fewer stops. At that point, stops all but vanished, according to my sources. On top of that, public sentiment had hit such a low point that GPD suffered dramatic staffing shortages. No one wanted to be a cop. So that snowballed into officers, who were pretty new when this all started, now being the training officers for the new rookies. These training officers spent their early years not stopping cars, and so they train the new kids not to stop cars. That’s where GPD is now.
On the plus side, I hear Chief Thompson seems to have gotten the attrition issue under control and officers can now do stops without the foolish restrictions Wayne Scott imposed. Still, it will take a long time to get officers back into the habit of stopping cars again. Old habits die hard and bad habits even harder.
The bigger question is does Latisha McNeil get paid by the City of Greensboro two (2) salaries for leading the Greensboro Criminal Justice Advisory Committee AND the Greensboro Public Safety Department?
Scott?
My tag goes expired all the time since they stopped having the window sticker and between my car and the kid’ cars I lose track of when to get them inspected. So, I wouldn’t assume they don’t have insurance as much as they either lose track as I do or they don’t like paying taxes.
Here we go Austin Chris is admitting he is a liberal lawbreaker. Sitting a bad example for his boys
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He’s just an all around wanker, Will. Like us all, he has about two months notice to renew his sticker. But he can’t even do that. If you were an employer who needed a reliable dependable employee, would you hire a guy like him?
As we say in England, he couldn’t even “organize a Piss Up in a brewery”.
Pathetic individual.
is it worth putting cops in danger. is it worth the time effort cost ? will you be ‘pulled over’ in the future because your high mileage violates the air pollution laws ?
Let me guess. . .. east Greensboro wants to get rid of traffic stops. Could it be that there are more stops affecting one race versus another? Creating laws and regulations to appease one group or the other is a foolish use of time and resources.
I thought traffic stop policies followed NC traffic laws. I was unaware that police could pick and choose what traffic violations to enforce. If a traffic law states a vehicle being driven must have working taillights, then a vehicle being driven must have working taillights, and if not, the driver should be pulled over and a ticket given to the driver.
And, if the inspection is out of date, then the registration is not current, which means vehicle taxes have not been paid, and most likely the vehicle is uninsured; the vehicle should then be towed. Otherwise, the vehicle will continue to be driven without payment of taxes and without insurance. Why have traffic laws not enforced? I suspect Greensboro police policies are based on DEI enforcement.
Not really the GPD’s fault. A few years ago the old Police Chief was given directions by the current council to stop what was deemed at that time “unnecessary” Police stops. This action by the council was right after
George Floyd and the blm was painted on main
street downtown. Call all the council members and let them know how you feel
Term Limits you ate correct, When should an officer stop a motorist? It is pretty “D” simple. The officer should stop a motorist when they observe a violation of the law. Hello! I am telling you, these liberals and their “foolish” thinking. Frankly I am tired of all of this total lawlessness in Greensboro. You can’t drive two miles in this town without observing someone breaking the law in some fashion. Violation of traffic laws has gone completely out of site and some liberal bunch is wondering when officers should stop motorist. Your life is in jeopardy when you drive in Greensboro. Any degree of traffic enforcement in Greensboro is at a minimum.
Pretty simple, break the law and you should be stooped.What a waste of time.
The 1st 5 comments are on to something! Another forum to cause racists issues…hey, it’s Greensboro, what do you expect?
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Discussing racial differences doesn’t cause racism any more than discussing nuclear war causes nuclear war.
Time and time again the City of Greensboro, our Mayor, and our Chief of Police deceive us with these dog and pony shows under the pretense that they are interested in your input! What a joke this is! They do nothing but talk and take no action!
If I ever hear again the phrase from our City Leaders “If you see something, say something” I may throw up. I see City Vehicles time and time again all over our city pass by Building Code Violations, Storm Water Drain Violations, Horrendous Traffic Law Violations, and numerous City Ordinance Violations. Are these City Employes exempt from practicing such advice? Meanwhile, hardly ever is a effort made by our city to correct these issues. We all are not quite that stupid!
It’s like this. The minorities don’t want to be bothered by the police as they tool around looking for a good place to burglarize.
Any intimidation of the police is welcome so they can operate without worrying about going to jail.
White people commit burglary too.
John that’s a little too much racism…the issue here is elements in the City don’t want to have traffic stops for busted taillights and expired registrations because of past police issues not to mention George Floyd. Those policing issues can be rectified…but a breakdown of law and order begins with ignoring laws that are in place to protect the general public from negligence and reckless regard of life. Everyone loses when that happens. The City is endangering the majority by favoring the minority.
I don’t see anyone getting pulled over in Greensboro. It’s the wild west out there. What happened to the road checks
East Greensboro my foot…nobody anywhere gets pulled for ANYTHING! The current mamby pamby approach to traffic to enforcement has opened the doors for blatant disregard for the law from black, white, Latino, Asians and about anybody you could think of including conservatives. The very wording of the “community” dialogue efforts reveal that the bigger community at large will continue to be put in danger while the liberals wring their hands over the perceived injustices to that minority “community” that comes from traffic enforcement.
please < traffic wherever i'm at. thank you.
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/triad/news/2015/12/16/changes-in-greensboro-police-traffic-stop-policy-impacting-racial-disparities
This goes back a long way. It’s the DEI Traffic policy in action. The New York Times found that in Greensboro, traffic stops based solely on the race of the offender, black individuals were disproportionately stopped in comparison to white individuals. The place where it seemed to be the most extreme was the equipment stops. So the answer was to just change that policy, eliminate most of those stops, and ipso facto traffic stops are now more equitable……..
The topics discussed will include transparency and accountability. Equity. They forgot equity.
I see a lot of migrants with illegal tags, sometimes no tags at all. Wasn’t there a big drug bust in Brown Sumit the other day?
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Hispanic immigrants don’t believe in automobile insurance, Johnny! That’s for white people.
That’s why they started charging us for “Uninsured/Underinsured Drivers” riders on our policies year ago.
So we have to pay more because they don’t pay anything. If they hit your car, you won’t get shit.
Celebrate diversity!
marklsparkl, you are so right to bring up Officer Safety. It must be nerve-wracking to pull someone over: very stressful, let alone dangerous. Please consider our police force in your discussion… Our officers need to be protected and pulling over people is not safe as letting them drive on to their house where you can send them a letter to appear in court!