When legislation is enacted in a knee-jerk reaction, it often ends up being legislation that is later regretted.
That may be the case in Tennessee, where state lawmakers have passed and the governor signed a measure that nullifies some of the ordinances Memphis adopted less than a year ago to limit traffic stops.
Memphis city officials, in reaction to the deplorable beating death by police of Tyre Nichols following a traffic stop in January 2023, voted to outlaw so-called pretextual traffic stops, such as for a broken taillight and other minor violations.
Whether police had reason to stop Nichols in the first place is questionable. They initially said he had been driving recklessly, but later backed off that claim.
The problem, however, wasn’t necessarily that the police made the stop. The problem was how they reacted once they did, using excessive force not only when Nichols was first detained but again after he ran and they caught up with him.
What happened to Nichols is indefensible, and there are criminal prosecutions still ongoing against those who were most responsible. But the way to address police brutality is to go after the bad actors, not to hamstring the majority of officers from doing their jobs. If a law is not worth enforcing, then take it off everyone’s books, rather than letting cities choose where it gets enforced.
