
"Local officials first raised the prospect during the national reckoning on racial injustice that followed the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, but the plan has progressed in sluggish fits and starts since then. Backers thought that they had scored an important victory with the release in May 2023 of a long-promised study mapping out how most enforcement could be done by unarmed civilian workers."
""I'm very upset about the delay," said Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, one of the proposal's early champions. "Generally speaking, when you try to do a big reform like this, at least some portion of the people who want to do the work are very motivated to change the status quo - and I don't think we have that here.""
Los Angeles' effort to replace police officers with unarmed civilians for most traffic enforcement has made little progress since first proposed in 2020. A May 2023 study outlined how unarmed civilian workers could handle most enforcement, but follow-up feasibility reports requested by City Council last summer with a three-month deadline have largely not materialized more than a year later. Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson expressed frustration over the delays while noting interdepartmental conversations indicate studies will be completed. Some police officials argue that traffic stops remain an effective tool to remove guns and drugs from the streets.
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