It would also prohibit evidence from minor traffic offenses to be used in court proceedings
Maryland State House
Annapolis Md (KM) A bill that would change the classification of some low level traffic offenses from primary to secondary was discussed on Tuesday by members of the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. The Legislation makes some offenses such as obstructing license plates, driving without functioning headlights, tail lights or brake lights, excessive noise, littering, failing to illuminate license plates and driving in bus lanes secondary offenses, and police would not need to stop those drivers
The legislation is sponsored by Baltimore County Senator Charles Sydnor. “This bill kicks off a conversation on about I would say a re-imaging of how we deal with traffic offenses on the highways,” he said.
Frederick County State Senator Bill Folden disagreed. “We re-imaged law enforcement a few years ago. We went pretty decisively in how we did it,” he said. “And there’s things that even—I’m going even throw the chairman’s name out there—and say we’ve had discussion on things that need to be fixed in it, but there is no appetite in this body to fix it, even though we know it’s wrong.”
Another part of the bill would prohibit prosecutors from using evidence obtained from a traffic stop for a minor offense from being used in court in a criminal proceeding. “In other words, prosecutors would no longer be permitted to use any evidence in a criminal proceeding that was obtained during a traffic stop that was initiated based a minor traffic infraction identified in this bill,”: Sydnor said.
But Senator Folden continued to say bills like these “villainize” and “persecute” law enforcement. “It’s okay to be human and make an error. Right? I get it. Officers are not infallible. Hold them accountable. But to constantly have another piece of legislation that affects the entire body as a whole as though they’ve done something wrong is not the answer,” he said.
Sydnor said he got the idea for this legislation when he and his family underwent an unpleasant traffic stop in Virginia in 2019.
Committee members took no vote on the bill on Tuesday.
By Kevin McManus