George Floyd’s murder in 2020 sparked international protests and calls for criminal justice and public safety reform. That wave of racial reckoning also hit San Francisco, resulting in the city taking key steps to address injustices. However, five years have since passed and many of the reforms that were promised have stalled or been completely dismantled. Such reforms included a policy voted on in 2024 to prevent police from conducting pretext stops for minor violations and pursuing baseless claims. However, in November of that same year, The San Francisco Police Association filed a lawsuit to block this policy from moving forward.
Many advocates have expressed concern about how much discretionary power is granted to law enforcement:
“That’s a lot of what advocates are concerned about: how much discretion are we giving armed agents of the state with the power to take away life and liberty?” Center for Policing Equity’s Hans Menos, whose recent study on BART’s fare evasion enforcement indicated racial bias in citations and arrests, told Axios.
Read the full article on AXIOS’s website.