The New York State Assembly says their role should be much less than they have been.

Earlier this week, following a floor debate that was often emotional and which brought the sponsor of A.7599 to the verge of tears, the state Assembly passed legislation that still allows police officers to cite drivers for having dangling objects or window obstructions, but only if the driver is pulled over for another violation. The bill was passed by a 96-44 with Assemblymen Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, and Joe Giglio, R-Gowanda, voting against the legislation. Companion legislation (S.7353) sponsored by Sen. Tim Kennedy, D-Buffalo, passed the Senate Transportation Committee by a 10-1 vote in February but has not made it to the full Senate for a vote.

Prohibitions on hanging items from a rear view mirror — like air fresheners or hanging placards like a handicapped parking placard — are common in many states, including Pennsylvania. Virginia passed a law in 2021 similar to A.7599 that requires police to have another justification to stop a vehicle other than dangling objects.

Thursday’s discussion in the state Assembly was a microcosm of the national debate, with Republicans generally arguing that such stops are necessary for police to enforce state gun and drug laws and Democrats speaking out against Black or Brown drivers being pulled over for no reason based on violations.

Submitted photo Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes, D-Buffalo and Assembly majority leader, is pictured during Thursday’s debate on pretext stops.

said Crystal Peoples-Stokes, D-Buffalo and Assembly majority leader.

THE ARGUMENT FOR PRETEXT STOPS

Pretext stops are named because they allow police officers to use minor traffic infractions a reason to investigate drivers for other, potentially more serious, crimes. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in 1996 in Whren v. United States that pretext stops are constitutional as long as police officers identify an actual violation of the law regardless of their motivation for the stop.

Assemblyman Joe Angelino, a former member and chief of the Norwich Police Department in Central New York. The Norwich Republican recounted incidents of pretext stops that took dangerous criminals off the streets, such as Joel Rifkin, who was pulled over for driving a car without license plates. Perhaps the most famous pretextual stop took place in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing when Timothy McVeigh was pulled over for not having a license plate on his vehicle. Angelino himself was part of a traffic stop and noticed a flashlight that looked out of place on the back seat of the vehicle that tipped the longtime officer off to the presence of stolen items in the trunk of the car.

That doesn’t mean Angelino is beholden to the necessity of minor violations being part of state law.

Submitted photo Assemblywoman Taylor Darling, D-Hempstead, speaks on behalf of her legislation to make obstructed view police stops a secondary reason for police to pull over a driver.

Angelino said.

Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, said the pretext stops present few consequences for drivers other than fines since there are no penalty points associated with them. During the floor debate, Goodell discussed the bill with Assemblywoman Taylor Darling, D-Hempstead, who said there are times when having an obstructed view from the windshield or rear window of a vehicle can create public safety issues such as not seeing a pedestrian on the road, which is why the obstructed view law was originally approved. The most important reason to have minor infractions, Goodell said, is to give officers an opportunity to take illegal guns or drugs off the streets.

Goodell said.

THE ARGUMENT AGAINST PRETEXT STOPS

Assemblywoman Taylor Darling, D-Hempstead, referenced in her legislative justification for A.7599 research published by The Stanford Open Policing Project in 2020. The project analyzed nearly 100 million traffic stops carried out across the United States and found black drivers were about 20% more often than white drivers relative to their share of the residential population. The study also found that once stopped, Black drivers were searched about one-and-a-half to two times as often as white drivers.

Assemblyman Edward Gibbs, D-New York City, speaks on the Assembly floor Thursday.

Assemblyman Edward Gibbs, D-New York City, spoke on behalf of A.7599 and noted he has been pulled over several times for minor violations such as driving 5 or 10 miles over the speed limit or switching lanes without signaling.

Gibbs said.

AREA OF AGREEMENT

Brad Haywood, executive director of Justice Forward Virginia, an advocacy organization for criminal justice reform, told the Associated Press last year that, as a public defender, he’s represented dozens of people who have been pulled over for having items dangling from their rearview mirrors, including air fresheners and rosary beads.

he said.

Submitted photo Assemblyman Joe Angelino, R-Norwich, is pictured speaking about the use of pretext stops on the state Assembly floor.

That inequity is one area on which Republicans and Democrats on the Assembly floor found agreement on Thursday.

Goodell said.

Angelino, the longtime former police officer who rose through the ranks to become his department’s police chief, had a similar sentiment.

Angelino said.

Darling is an American and British citizen who was born in Brooklyn, whose father served in the military and mother worked in education. Darling herself attended Spelman College at the age of 16 before transferring to Hofstra University to become an industrial organizational psychologist.

Darling said.