The East Lansing City Council voted Tuesday night to end pretextual police stops. What that means is motorists in the city will no longer be pulled over for things like tinted windows or a loud exhaust.
Supporters of the new rules said they help correct historic issues of police disproportionately pulling over people of color.
Ernest Conerly, chair of the Independent Police Oversight Commission, said the new rules allow law enforcement to keep its focus where it should be.
“I think the public needs to just understand that the police should be focusing on matters of public safety, things that truly endanger our ability to be free law abiding citizens. A pretextual stop has no bearings on people's everyday lives, whatsoever, Conerly said”
Conerly said the new ordinance may have the impact of making East Lansing more welcoming, "we're hopeful that by reducing the reasons that the cops have to interact with you, per se, in a negative way, that people will start feeling a little bit more comfortable with coming to East Lansing.”
The ordinance has received public pushback. One concern expressed is that it prohibits police from pulling over vehicles with loud exhausts.
Conerly said East Lansing already has noise ordinances to address that concern, however the city council plans to discuss the issue again at its next meeting.