From [HERE] Black drivers were about seven times more likely than White drivers to be stopped by police in wealthy Bethesda, Md., in 2018, according to recently released data.

Across Montgomery County, police searched the vehicles of Black drivers more than twice as frequently as White drivers, and were more likely to cite “probable cause” if the drivers were Black.

These yawning disparities, which advocates say have dogged the liberal suburb for decades, are fueling renewed scrutiny over the dangers of what advocates call “driving while black.” As communities nationwide confront calls to “defund” and “unbundle” the police in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, some in Montgomery are asking: Should police even be in charge of traffic enforcement?

Maybe not all of it, lawmakers say.

County council member Hans Riemer (D-At Large) has commissioned a study to figure out whether – and how — Montgomery might be able to move certain traffic enforcement functions out of the police department and into other government agencies.

At least two other lawmakers, including council vice president Tom Hucker, who sits on both the public safety and transportation committees, think that change would be a good idea.

Armed with a recent report on enforcement disparities by the county’s Office of Legislative Oversight, they are holding an online town hall next month to solicit public feedback.

County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said he is “more than concerned” about the racial inequities in traffic enforcement and will consider the possibility of reallocating resources.

Montgomery appears to be the only jurisdiction in the Washington metro region targeting traffic enforcement in policing, though the District last year moved automated enforcement from police to the transportation department.

County officials say they would start by similarly shifting responsibility for speeding and red light cameras away from the police department — if it’s allowed under state law — then evaluate what other functions could be performed by civilians. They also want to rely more on cameras at traffic stops for driving enforcement, since personal bias is less of a factor in automated systems.

Berkeley City Council in California voted last month to move enforcement of minor traffic violations into a new Department of Transportation. Officials in Cambridge, Mass., and St. Louis Park, Minn., are weighing similar legislation.

“This is the real-world example of ‘defund the police’ that we’re talking about,” said Rayshawn Ray, a University of Maryland sociology professor who specializes in police-civilian relations. “In theory, it makes sense, it’s a good idea. But the implementation will be key.”Lawmakers hope shifting traffic enforcement might have more broad-based support.

Increasing automated enforcement of speeding and red light violations could help reduce opportunities for biased policing, but also boost road safety, Riemer said. And having transportation department employees, instead of police, take charge of issuing fines and tickets from the video footage shouldn’t be a heavy lift.

“They’re looking at a camera,” Hucker (D-District 5) said.

Pro-transit advocates agree. Paul Goldman, president of the Montgomery-based Action Committee in Transit, wrote in a July letter to officials that they should “replace police traffic enforcement with camera enforcement wherever feasible, to eliminate bias and improve compliance.”

There has long been a case for increasing automated enforcement as a way to improve traffic safety, Riemer said, and it is now coinciding with the calls to address racial inequity.

The recent report on the police department reveals staggering racial disparities in arrests and use-of-force, along with highly detailed data on traffic enforcement.

Stops, searches and traffic violations are broken down by race and neighborhood — showing for example, that Black drivers are stopped at a disproportionately higher rate in mostly white Potomac than they are in more diverse White Oak. Countywide, White drivers were stopped more frequently for violations like speeding or beating red lights, while Black drivers were often found in violaton for infractions detected after a stop, such as driving without a license or refusing to show it to an officer.